SheZap's World
by hyperpsychomaniac
Summary: SheZap decides he wants to be a superhero, so he sends SheZow to DudePow's dimension to get rid of the competition. Will Guy be able to figure out a way to get home before his parents completely freak? Will he be able to stomach his dad as DudePow's mom… cop… what…
1. Chapter 1

"You're going down, Mocktopus!" SheZow let loose a super-heavy-handed she-slap. The overgrown octopus let out a shriek, and barrelled into some stacked boxes of fish. Still faintly flailing tuna spilled out all over the board walk in a swish of seawater. Not to worry. The cops could clean that up.

Guy grinned. He was fighting Mocktopus near Megadale's pier. And he was winning. Of course. He was SheZow! It would've been nice if Maz had been there, but his friend was a little bit slower, seeing as today he had decided he would be 'bowling ball bruiser'. Didn't exactly make for a quick sidekick.

"Laser lipstick!" Guy whipped out his laser lipstick and brandished it with a maniac grin. "How about we make some sushi, huh, Mocktopus?"

"Hello?! What do you think I'm here for, seriously? I just wanted some sushi, I don't see why you have to be so mean," Mocktopus cried shrilly, waving a couple of tentacles up into the air.

"I'll show you 'mean', toots."

Guy whirled around at the sound of the voice, holding up his laser lipstick, muscles tensing. "SheZap? What do you want?"

SheZap stood, hands on hips, right behind him. He stepped back and held up his hands. "Whoa, easy there, girlfriend. I'm just here to help."

Guy's eyes narrowed, and he lowered his laser lipstick ever so slightly. "Help? But you're a villain, SheZap."

SheZap rolled his eyes. "I'm your opposite, SheZow. That doesn't necessarily make me a villain. I mean, you're not exactly a cut and dried hero."

Guy bristled. "I am too!"

SheZap gestured around at the sopping wet board walk. "Really? Look at the mess you made."

"It's not that bad…" Guy drew in a breath, and caught a whiff of the fish that were now strewn all over the place. He fanned a hand in front of his face. "Whew. Okay, point."

"So," SheZap grinned. "I'm here to help." He whipped out his curling iron, and then hurled the sizzling hot appliance at Mocktopus.

"What are you… eeik!" Mocktopus leapt up in flurry of tentacles as the iron landed in his lap. "Ow, ow, ow…"

"SheZap!" Guy rolled out of the way as Mocktopus' flailing mass tumbled past. Mocktopus crashed off the board walk and into a car park. The two cars he landed on bounced on their suspension, and their car alarms started to wail.

"Ow, hot!" Mocktopus rolled onto another row of cars, setting off more car alarms. A flurry or honks and screams from nearby vehicles accompanied the racket.

"And here was I thinking this was going to be easy." Guy flew into the carpark and grabbed at one of Mocktopus' tentacles.

"Ow!"

"Come on, I'm trying to help you…" And the half dozen or so cars Mocktopus had already smashed the tops in on.

"It burns…"

"Here…" SheZap flew in and grabbed another tentacle.

"SheZap, let go!" Guy hauled back, dragging Mocktopus towards him.

"No!" SheZap dragged the sea monster back.

"Ow!" Mocktopus was now strung out between SheZow and SheZap. He went cross-eyed.

"I said let go!"

"Fine!"

SheZap let go. Mocktopus' rubbery tentacles contracted like a rubber band, and he snapped back, nearly taking off SheZow's head, and slammed into a car parked illegally on the sidewalk behind them. He let out a little moan, and slumped down, unconscious.

Guy looked at the still wailing mass of cars in the carpark, and winced.

"Wow," said SheZap, landing next to Guy and putting his hands on his hips as he too surveyed the damage. "Nice job."

"SheZap, what were you even doing? I can take care of Mocktopus by myself."

SheZap frowned and stuck out his bottom lip. "Maybe, but I wanted to help. You seem to have so much fun being a superhero, I thought I should give it a try."

"You trashed all those cars, that's not what you're supposed to do…"

SheZap bristled. "Oh, yeah? You do this sort of thing all time, SheZow. How is this any different?"

"Because…" Guy let out a huff. "Because! You're not a hero, SheZap."

"I bet I could be a better superhero than you, SheZow. How about we have a little bet, huh? We both help people, see who can be the best hero…"

It was a tempting offer. It could be a hell of a lot of fun. But then… Guy looked at the trashed cars, and winced. "I don't think Megadale could handle that bet."

"You scared or something?"

"No."

"Yeah, you're scared…"

"No, I'm not!" Guy balled up his hands into fists. "If I see you around, I don't care what you're doing, I'll stop you, SheZap."

SheZap's eyes narrowed. He took a step towards SheZow so they were nose to nose. "You know what, if you don't want to play, how about I take you out of the equation, huh? Then I could be a superhero all to my heart's content, and no one could stop me."

Guy held up his laser lipstick. "You want to take me down, sister? Okay, no more Mr Nice Girl."

"SHECOW!"

The voice brought both of them whirling around. Mocktopus had slid off the final car he'd crushed. Turned out it was parked so casually illegally because it was a cop cruiser. Boxter stood beside it, hands bunched into fists at his side, and his face red.

"She-it," Guy whispered.

"So sorry, Officer Hamdon," said SheZap, actually adding a curtsy onto his address. "But SheZow here is causing a mess as usual. I can promise you if I ever was a superhero, like her, I wouldn't cause you so much trouble."

Boxter just looked between the two of them, then groaned and his shoulders slumped.

Guy blinked. Okay, no scolding then. Didn't mean he couldn't tell off SheZap. I mean, only he was allowed to make a mess for his Dad! "You were the one who made the mess, SheZap. And you're not a superhero."

SheZap winked. "Well see, toots." Then he melted into the shadows.

* * *

 **A/n:** I wanted to write another SheZow story. Not exactly sure where this is going to go yet, but its going to have SheZap, and DudePow, and as much AU gender-swap as I can cram into there. I thought I'd post up the prologue/first bit to start with, just to see how many people were interested. Drop me a review if you want to see more. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Guy landed on the rooftop of the warehouse and powered down the SHE-C-10. "All right, Sheila, I'm here. What was it you wanted me to look for again?"

"Energy signatures."

Guy groaned, and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I'm twelve. I'm going to need you to be a little bit more specific."

"Quantum flux patterns indicative of the presence of a wormhole in the space-time continuum…"

Guy gritted his teeth, eyes widening. Well, that certainly didn't help. "Um, is that something I can beat up?"

Kelly was with him, sitting in the passenger seat. This time, she groaned at Sheila's explanation too. "Also, he's Guy."

"Hey!"

Sheila let out a deep sigh. "Just go inside, quietly, and see if you can see anything amiss."

"This is not a good use of my talents," Guy muttered.

"I would hardly call complaining a talent," said Sheila, then she clicked off the transmission.

"I'm not… what… Sheila!" The computer didn't reply. Guy prodded the screen a few more times, scowling.

Kelly snorted. "Nice one, Sheila."

Guy glared at his sister and then slipped out of the cockpit, found the fire stairs that opened onto the warehouse roof, and made his way cautiously inside. He walked out onto a metal walkway that encircled the entire open interior area of the warehouse.

"Guy, will you just wait," Kelly jogged to catch up with him, her footsteps ringing out on the metal.

Guy's gaze was quickly drawn to one end of the open expanse. An upright circular metal ring, two stories tall, dominated the end of the warehouse. It was big enough to drive a truck through.

"I can't keep up with SheZow, you know… whoa." Kelly drew to a halt beside him, eyes wide.

Guy put a hand on the railing, and vaulted down to the lower floor, landing lightly on his feet. He straightened up, and made his way cautiously over to the ring. It was the only thing in the warehouse save for a mat attached with a wire to the steel-grey artefact. The mat was covered in brightly coloured squares, each with a strange symbol on it. "It's kind of like one of those dance video game controllers… but…" he winced. "Those have like nine squares, this has hundreds."

Kelly jogged up beside him, puffing by now. "It's got no more than forty-two."

Guy glared at her. "You cannot count that fast."

"Seven by six…" Kelly cut herself off with a grumble. "And it looks like the symbols correspond to the ones on the ring. Which is probably the weirdest thing in this room, Guy. Not an oversized dance mat."

"I thought we were looking for an energy signature, not a…" Guy flung a hand up at the ring.

"Well, I'm just assuming a giant alien ring would have an energy signature."

Guy frowned then poked a toe at the dance mat. The square he touched lit up. The ring let out a grinding clunk and one of the nine lights on its outer edge lit up too.

"I wouldn't do that, toots. You have no idea where you'll end up."

"SheZap!" Guy whirled around, bunching his hands into fists. He took a step in front of Kelly.

SheZap jumped down from the metal walkway, landing in front of SheZow.

"What do you want now? A dance competition?" Guy gestured to the dance mat.

"Nope. Just had to make do with what I had on hand. Do you like it?"

Guy glanced back over his shoulder. He had no idea what SheZap was up to, but the great big ring, looming behind him, was just so… "What is it?"

"It's a gateway. It can send you anywhere in the universe. Well, anywhere you have the address to."

Kelly huffed and folded her arms. "That is impossible."

"And what do you plan on doing with that, SheZap?"

"You still think I can't be a hero?"

Guy groaned. This again? "You'd break even more things than me. It's a terrible idea. Why don't you just stick to, you know, whatever it is that you do."

SheZap glared. "All right, I gave you your chance, sweetheart."

Guy tensed. "Yeah, what you going to do?"

SheZap broke into a crooked smile. "If you don't want to compete with me as a hero, how about, a dance competition!"

"What… but you just said…"

"I'll go first." SheZap pushed past Guy before he could react, and jumped onto the dance mat. Though no music played, he rolled over it, slamming his feet down on the squares like he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Guy…" said Kelly, taking a few steps back. The gateway was grinding and groaning again, the symbols on its inner ring spinning around. The lights around the side began to light up, the inner ring jerking back and forth between them like the lock on a safe.

SheZap activated the last square with a one handed handstand. The gateway let out a final crunch and then something like a tidal wave exploded from the gate. A blue liquid filled the centre of the ring, and burst out, its dead centre coming right towards them.

Kelly let out a little shriek. Guy grabbed her and held her close. But the wave only shot out a dozen or so feet. SheZap didn't even bother moving. The wave collapsed back into the ring, leaving a shimmering surface of blue across the middle of the ring, like a vertical swimming pool.

Guy and Kelly both straightened up.

"Whoa…" said Kelly.

Guy blinked, tearing his gaze away from the gate. SheZap was still a threat. He'd activated this gateway, but for what reason? "SheZap, what did you just do?"

"I opened the gate," SheZap said with a shrug.

"You're not going through it!"

"So stop me, dummy." SheZap flew into the air, and drifted back towards the shimmering surface, grinning and holding his arms wide.

Guy flew into the air and grabbed SheZap by the upper arms before he could fly though. He strained and hauled back on him. "Oh no, you don't…"

SheZap leaned in so they were nose to nose. "Little confession, Guy. I don't plan on going through that gate. You are. And it's a one way trip." SheZap spun around in mid-air, letting Guy pull him forward, twisting his momentum, and then pushed Guy. Right towards the open gate.

"Guy!" Kelly's voice was snatched away as the shimmering blue surface closed over him.

* * *

Kelly rushed forward but the gate shut down with a whoosh, the blue disappearing like a retreating wave. She skidded to a halt right at the ring's edge. "Guy?" She looked up at the gate's top, stepped through cautiously, looked around its edge. The dialling device. Kelly ran back down to the dance mat, and jumped on the nearest square. The gate lit up, but didn't make any of the grinding noises. The dance mat itself just made sick, out-of-tune tonal noises.

SheZap laughed. "It only works if you put in the right address, sweetheart."

Kelly whirled back around, hands bunched up into fists, her heart hammering in her chest. "Where'd you send my brother, SheZap?"

"I supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell you. The alternate dimension. I'm afraid I left out a bit of information: this gate doesn't just send you to anywhere in the universe."

Kelly looked back to the dance mat, her eyes darting between each of the strange symbols.

"But, unless you know how to spell 'alternate dimension' in Ancient, that won't help you much."

"Dial it back up!"

"Won't help. It's only one way," SheZap shrugged. "Oh, don't look so upset. Now I get to be the superhero, without SheZow trying to tell me what I can and can't do. What, he thinks just cause I'm his clone he's like my mom or something?"

Kelly stomped right over so she was face to face with SheZap. "This dimension needs SheZow. Bring him back, right now!"

"Bossy little thing, aren't you?"

"He's my brother…"

SheZap put a hand on Kelly's shoulder. "N'aw. I could be your big brother, Kelly. You wouldn't even know the difference."

A shudder ran through Kelly's entire body. She was this close to someone with all of SheZow's powers, but none of her brother's care for her. She stepped back and slapped away SheZap's hand. Guy's my little brother," she managed to say, though it felt like her throat was closing up.

SheZap shrugged. "Eh. Suit yourself. I don't want your family anyway. Just SheZow's job. I'll be the best superhero this world has ever seen. You'll see. Toodles!" And with that SheZap melted into the shadows.

Kelly stared at the spot he'd disappeared into, her chest heaving. Then she dashed back up to the metal walkway, onto the roof, and into the SHE-C-10. She was panting for air by the time she reached the cockpit, and slapped her fist down on the comms panel. "Sheila!"

"I know. I saw. Come back to the She-lair. We'll work this out."

* * *

Kelly paced the She-lair, her mind churning over. "We have to figure out where Guy went, how to get him home…" But despite her pacing it was doing nothing to stimulate any ideas as to how.

"Kelly, it's the alternate dimension. Dudepow's dimension. I'm sure Guy's fine… ow!" Maz sat in front of Sheila, trying to pull off the wads of duct tape still wrapped around his hands. He'd been using the duct tape to secure two bowling balls to the end of each arm, like giant round fists. Kelly supposed 'bowling ball bruiser' would've been a great sidekick, had he actually been able to punch villains in the face with his bowling ball fists. Unfortunately, Maz lacked the upper body strength to pull this off, so had spent most of the day dragging his arms around and running out of breath. He groaned and put his head in his hands. "This was a bad idea."

"We've got other things to worry about, Maz!"

"The tape is stuck to my arm hair."

Kelly marched over, grabbed the last bit of tape, and ripped it from Maz's arm.

"Ow!"

"There. Now, can we concentrate on getting Guy back?"

Maz scowled up at her, rubbing at his arm. "I am trying to help."

"Kelly, it'll be okay," said Sheila. "If you can bring the gate here, I should be able to reactivate it. I was able to get an image of the address SheZap dialled in. We can dial it again, and then Guy can come home."

"Are you sure? SheZap said it only went one way."

"It is worth a try."

Kelly glanced at her watch and her guts clenched. It was nearly dinner time. "Sheila, we can't wait until tomorrow. We have to bring back the gate now. Mom and Dad…"

"You'll need to pick up the gate with the SHE-C-10, and fly it all the way across town," said Sheila. "Even if you go now, you'll be gone half the evening. Your parents will worry about both of you."

Maz stood to his feet and snapped his fingers. "It's all right. I've got an idea."

"What, Maz?"

"Shove me up the pole into Guy's bedroom, and I'll show you. It will be the ultimate test of my skills, the cumulation of everything I've learnt as SheZow's sidekick up until this point in time. It will be… so awesome." Maz grinned, his gaze suddenly far off.

"Yeah, okay, I won't even ask. Just make it work…" Kelly walked over to the pole that led to the base of Guy's closet, and then gave Maz a boost. Maz grunted, and disappeared into the closet. After a moment, Kelly called up after him: "Are you sure you don't want me to come up there with you?"

"What, no! I'm going to be changing!"

Kelly's cheeks flushed, and she backed away from the pole, hands raised. "Yeah, okay. I'm going." She left the she-lair, looking both ways as she stuck her head out the basement door. She didn't want to explain to her parents what she'd been doing down there.

"Kelly, Guy, dinner time!" Mom called.

Yeah, right on time. Ignoring the flip flop of her gut, Kelly made her way to the dining room, and sat down. Boxter was already seated, poking his food with a sullen expression. He put his fork back down when Droosha walked in.

"Kelly, where's Guy?" Droosha asked. "Guy!"

What by the goddess was she going to tell them?

"Coming!" said a voice from upstairs, a voice that sounded absolutely nothing like Guy's. Maz emerged into the dining room, hands on his hips, proudly displaying his latest costume. He was dressed in Guy's cargoes and hoody. He had the hood up over his head but his goofy grin was still visible.

Kelly stared at him, eyes wide, and then buried her face in her hands with a groan.

Droosha frowned, eyes roving up and down as she tried to figure out what Maz was doing in her son's clothes. Apparently, it wasn't more than mildly confusing; she was lost for words for only a second. "Oh, you're going to be having dinner with us, Maz? Where's Guy?"

Maz faltered a little. He rallied, and put his hands back on his hips. "I'm not Maz. I'm your son."

Boxter let out a great big huff. "Come on, Maz, I'm not in the mood for games right now. Where's Guy? Tell him if he doesn't get his butt down here right now, I'm eating his dinner."

Maz deflated like a leaky balloon. He pulled down his hood. "I… er…"

Droosha's confused expression hardened into a scowl. She put her hands on her hips. "Maz, what is going on? Is Guy doing something he shouldn't? Is that why you're trying to cover for him?"

Maz tugged at his collar, and swallowed hard. "Um, no Mrs Hamdon…"

Boxter stood to his feet. The big mopey teddy bear disappeared, to be replaced by a broad shouldered, angry wall. His voice held a growl. "Then what exactly are you trying to pull, son?"

"Wait, wait…" Kelly stood to her feet, holding her hands up. Poor Maz looked like he wanted to melt into the floor.

"Kelly, what is going on?" said Boxter. He turned his glare onto her, but Kelly wasn't afraid of her father.

She drew in a breath, and her shoulders slumped. Well, there was no point hiding it now, not if Maz was going to get in trouble for something he hadn't done. "Mom, Dad… we don't know where Guy is. We just didn't want you to worry."

* * *

It was nearly ten PM. Maz had gone home hours ago. Dad had taken a drive to search all the skateparks Guy usually frequented, just in case he was there. I mean, he was twelve. There was literally nowhere else he could be hanging out. Well, none their parents knew about. Sitting on the sofa in the family's lounge room, a bit out of her parents way, Kelly swallowed. Of course, they didn't realise Guy was running around saving the world as SheZow. Or that he'd been sent to another dimension. There was no way Dad was going to find him at a skatepark.

Boxter had arrived home about fifteen minutes ago, and was now pacing the lounge room. "This is getting ridiculous."

Mom sat on the other sofa, arms folded tightly across her chest. She looked like she was trying to decide whether to burst into tears, or bite someones head off. "So, why don't you call your detective already?"

"I did before…" Boxter said, a faint growl creeping into his voice. "Why do you think I was out driving all over Megadale? She wanted me to check first. We can't waste resources if Guy's just being a little… brat and doing something he shouldn't…"

Droosha shot to her feet, hands balling into fists at her sides. "Boxter! Its nearly midnight. He's twelve. What could he possibly be doing? If she's going to be like that, you let me talk to her myself, because… something's happened to him…" She drew in a sharp breath, and her shoulders slumped. And then put her face in her hands.

"Hey, it's okay." Boxter put his arms around her, drawing her into his shoulder and rubbing her back. "I'll call Detective Johansson now. She'll listen, she just wanted me to check first. If anything's happened to Guy, we'll find him. We're the cops, that's our job."

Droosha sniffed and drew back from him, pushing tears from her eyes. "Okay, thanks sweetheart."

Boxter smiled at her faintly and squeezed her shoulder one last time. Then he stepped out of the lounge room and out the front door, putting his phone to his ear as he did.

"Are you okay, Mom?" Kelly asked.

Droosha shut her eyes briefly, then forced a smile. "I'm fine, Kelly. Why don't you go to bed? I'm sure you're brother's fine, I'm just being emotional. You don't need to worry. Your father and the rest of the cops will find him, and he'll be back here in the morning."

Kelly climbed the stairs to her bedroom. Her brother most certainly wouldn't be home by morning, not as far as the cops had anything to do with it. But maybe, just maybe, he'd find a way home himself. "Aw, Guy," she said, as she curled up in bed and drew her covers around her. "I hope you're okay. And I'll do whatever I can to bring you home… tomorrow."

* * *

 **A/n:** I'm going to try and churn as much as this out in my last week of holidays before I go back to work. I have landed the kids in a real dilemma and I hope I can get them out. D:

Also, you know how sometimes cartoons do things where there's a knock-off of the Stargate? Yeah, I wanted to do that. :D

If you like the story please drop me a review. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Guy sat up with a groan, and rubbed at his head. "Oh… Man…" He was shivering, like he'd just come out of an ice box. He hauled himself to his feet, then put a hand to his stomach with a grunt. The feeling of nausea started fading as he gained his feet. Guy rubbed at his still shivering arms, and looked around him.

The gateway loomed behind him, and Guy tensed and took a half step back. But it lay dormant, not making a single sound. And he was no longer in the warehouse. Not his warehouse at any rate. This gate was housed in a much smaller space. It was darker. And Guy could see no device, dance mat or otherwise, hooked up to it.

"Oh goddess," said Guy, his heart rising to his throat. "He sent me across the universe?"

"Freeze!"

Guy whirled around, searching for the source of the voice. He was still shivering. Seriously? "Ha ha, very funny," Guy said, putting on his SheZow voice. "Who are you? Where are you? For that matter… where am I?"

"SheZow?" A figure holding a faintly glowing blue light in his fist stepped out of the darkness.

Guy squinted, shielding his eyes with a hand. "Hang on…" He activated his laser lipstick so that it lit up the darkened room in a pink glow. The light revealed a superhero, no taller than Guy, dressed in blue. The blue light came from the ring on her clenched fist. "DudePow?"

"None other. What are you doing here, sister?" said DudePow, her voice holding the superhero's mannish pitch.

"I guess… I portaled here?"

"Our portals have been on the fritz for like a week," said DudePow. "So, yeah, I'm a little surprised to see you."

"I think I came through… that…" Guy stepped back, pointing his laser lipstick up at the gateway.

DudePow stepped up beside him and folder her arms. "Yeah, Dudley said there was something in here that was messing up the portals. So, you came through this, like a portal? You know how the dang thing works?"

Guy groaned. "No, I have absolutely no idea how it works. I was hoping you would. If your portals aren't working, it might be my only way home. I don't want to be stuck here… no offence."

DudePow shrugged. "Oh well, we'll figure it out. That's why I brought the brain box."

Kelli emerged from the shadows behind them, holding a flashlight, and some sort of high-tech tablet that he was poking and prodding. He stopped just long enough to glare at his sister. "You know, Gal, you both know each other. You could drop the whole weird voice thing, and I might actually be able to concentrate long enough to figure out what all these readings are doing."

Gal rolled her eyes, and dropped the baritone. "Well sorry if the fact I got to be DudePow makes you uncomfortable."

"That's not what I'm…" Kelli groaned. "You know you wouldn't even know how to read this if I wasn't here." He held up the tablet.

"Hey, its the fastest handheld I've ever played video games on, which is all I care about."

Kelli rolled his eyes. "So that's where all the processing power went."

Gal winced. "No, I think that might be… you know… Dudley's photos…"

Kelli winced. "Ew."

"Hey, brainy," said Gal. "Have you seen this yet?" She pointed up at the gate.

Kelli looked up, still scowling, and then his eyes widened. He nearly dropped the tablet. "Holy crap."

"Yeah," said Guy, letting his SheZow voice slip. It was a bit of a relief. "It's what I just came through, there was one just like it in my world."

"This is what's been stopping our portals," said Kelli. "There was one in your world? It must create a wormhole between the two gates. These symbols on the side must be points of reference, if you put in the right ones, it connects the gates up." His eyes widened as he stared at up the big alien ring. "And these chevrons…"

"And he'll be useless to us for the next five minutes…" Gal sighed. She folded her arms and turned to Guy, though she wasn't quite doing the big broad shouldered stance she'd been putting on when she had her DudePow voice going. Well, Guy supposed, he probably did far more exaggerated 'girly' poses. "So, you came through, but you don't know how it works? Nice one. How do you expect to get home?"

"I didn't do it on purpose. I was fighting SheZap. He's the one who sent me here."

Gal frowned. "Who?"

"SheZap, he's…" Guy gestured down at himself, "looks just like me, or SheZow. Well, both actually. I guess he'd be a she in your dimension…"

Gal was still frowning, shaking her head.

"He's my clone; he called himself SheZap. Don't you have like a DudeZap… DudePap… DudeDude…" Guy found himself waving his hands around uselessly. "You never spat a fingernail into a vat of nuclear waste, and ended up with a clone you? Not exactly a bad guy… just… a big handsome jerk…"

Gal raised an eyebrow. "Spat a fingernail into nuclear waste? Look, I know I'm wearing the pants right now, but I'm a lady. I don't do stuff like that."

Guy sighed. "Okay, so you don't have a SheZap." Was he supposed to be relieved? If SheZap's alternate had been in on this whole thing, he might have been able to she-slap some answers out of her.

"Just a gate."

"Maybe it's just your SheZap activating his gate, with this one, that's caused our portals to mess up," said Kelli, walking over to them. "Which is a problem for everyone, seeing as without our portals, we can't send you home until we work this out."

Guy groaned, and his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."

Gal put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, SheZow. You can stay in my lair until we figure it out."

"We should take the gate too. It'll be easier to figure out with Dudley's help," said Kelli.

"You can help me carry it," said Gal. She winked at Guy, and flexed her arm muscles. "You up for it, girl?"

"Pfft, please," said Guy, putting back on SheZow's voice to add to the affect. "I have no problem with helping you with the heavy lifting."

Kelli groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Wait," said Guy, "You can't take it in your supercar?"

Gal's shoulders slumped. "Aw, man, seriously? You have a supercar?"

"Yeah, its awesome. I mean, it's pink, but it's awesome. Don't you?"

"I have a super bike. The Dudecycle. It's not really built for hauling. That and Kelli gets all clingy whenever he's on it, and if Mazy's on there too, it's really cramped. And she says it messes up her hair."

"Clingy? You screamed the first time you rode it," Kelli huffed.

"I did not. But, I suppose, it's supposed to be a solo, one-man, tough and independent lone-wolf vehicle. You know, me being a male superhero and all…"

"Hey," said both Kelli and Guy in unison.

"Sorry…"

"So, does that mean I'm taking the bike back?" Kelly asked, hope glittering in his eyes.

"I suppose…"

Kelli pumped his fist. "Yes!"

"Yeah, and we'll take the gate. Just don't let Mom catch you."

* * *

SheZow and DudePow carried the gate high over… alternate Megadale… keeping the big ring clear of the taller buildings. It was hard enough trying to steer the heavy gate in a straight line as it was, without lifting it up, down and around buildings.

"It's not exactly heavy…" Guy grumbled, trying to hide the strain from his face.

"Nope. You just keep swinging your hips around and its throwing off the balance."

"I am not swinging my hips!"

"Just follow my lead."

Guy groaned. "This is actually really heavy… and arguing isn't helping."

Gal tugged against the gate, and then her shoulders slumped. "Yeah…Let's not do this again, all right?"

"And by 'this', you mean fight about who's the boss and just get in each other's way?"

"You're not so slow," Gal winked at him. "You know, for a guy."

"Haha. You're funny. You know, for a gal," Guy said with faint smile and a roll of his eyes.

"Guy!"

"What… oh!" Guy made a grab for the gate as it began to slip from his fingers.

Gal let out a grunt, strained, and then it slipped from her fingers too. And plummeted thirty stories.

"Sherrific!"

"Crap!"

Guy froze in midair. "Wait, you're allowed to swear? Like, properly?"

"A little. SheZow's not? Figures…" Gal muttered.

"Gate!"

"Oh… darn…" Gal winced, then barrelled down towards the ground. Guy followed her. They both landed heavily on the road surface at exactly the same moment; it cracked a little around them under the impact.

"There it is," said Guy. "It didn't hit anyone. Thank the goddess." The gate had buried itself, kicking up a bit of road. And it had cleaved clean through the centre of a cop car. Guy winced, his guts clenching. But wait, this was not his dimension. He didn't need to worry about his father freaking on SheZow for destruction of police property.

"Oh great, its JerkPow."

Gal's eyes widened, and she grabbed onto Guy's shoulder, practically hiding behind him. "Mo… Officer Hamdon," she squeaked, her voice even higher than her normal tone.

"Officer Hamdon…" Guy muttered, and then his eyes too widened. The woman standing in front of them was brown haired like Guy's father, but her hair was longer and drawn back into a ponytail. She was built big enough that any criminal would think twice about taking her on, though not quite as bulky as Guy's father. And, of course, her body had a definitive feminine shape. It was like looking at his father, only she had… "Boobs?" Guy squeaked, then clapped his hands over his mouth.

Officer Hamdon glanced between SheZow and DudePow, a frown creasing her familiar-but-not features. "What, you have a girlfriend now? Just my luck. What are you doing?"

"Um, Hamdon…" A freckled female officer with a curly red perm, clutching two cups of coffee in her hands, froze on the sidewalk as she stepped out of the nearby coffee shop. "The car…"

"What? That's the fifth one this week!"

"Hey!" said Gal, her voice regaining DudePow's usual tone. "Don't get your panties in a twist."

"You know what you're problem is? Too much bloody dopamine, if you ask me."

"Yeah, I didn't."

"What is that anyway?" Officer Hamdon demanded, stabbing her finger at the gate. "And what is it doing on my car?"

"Technically, it's between your car. It's a gate. Don't worry, we'll move it for you. Come on, SheZow. I guess the cops want us to tidy up their mess for them."

"Tidy up. Our mess?" Officer Hamdon growled, her hands balling up into fists.

"Easy, Hamdon…"

"Shut up, Wackerman!"

"If you keep shouting at me I will bloody well slap you!"

"Ah…" said Guy. He couldn't take his eyes off his… Gal's… mom… dad… cop.

"SheZow!" Gal punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! Watch it!"

Gal flew up and grabbed at the top of the gate, and began to haul on it.

"Hey, leave that alone. It's police property now."

"Yeah, nope, sorry, sister. Don't tell me what to do." Not that the gate was budging much. "SheZow!"

"Um, right." Guy flew up next to her, and grabbed the ring. It was still stuck in the road surface, and it had been hard to lift to start with. It started to shift a little.

"Oh no you don't." Officer Hamdon grabbed the bottom of the gate, almost swinging off it, though she had no hope of winning a tug of war against two superheroes. "Wackerman, help me!"

Wackerman sighed, and put the coffee cups down on the sidewalk. "I am not paid enough for this." She came over and grabbed the bottom of the gate too.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Gal huffed.

The wail of sirens filled the air. More cops were coming and they would be on the scene in moments.

"Um, DudePow? I don't think this is going to work."

"Yeah, I'm not carting my Mom over half of Megadale." Gal whispered harshly. "Ugh, why does she always have to be such a pain? She probably wouldn't even let go!"

Guy coughed, feeling his stomach churn. Mom. Oh man, this was so weird. I mean, he knew everyone in this universe was the opposite gender, but, it kind of hadn't occurred to him that would apply to his parents too.

"What's with you?"

"I think I just barfed a little in my mouth…"

Gal glared at him. "Right. This is stupid." She let go of the gate.

"Hey!" Guy let it go as it dragged at his arms. The big artefact let out a creak and a groan, and then started to tip over.

"Hamdon!" Wackerman dragged at her partner's shirt, pulling her back as the ring tipped towards them. Then grabbed her in a terrified hug. The gate fell over with a resounding clang. Leaving them standing, unharmed, in the centre of the ring. "Oh…"

Both officers let go and took a step away from each other.

"Damn it, JerkPow!" Hamdon shouted up at them.

Gal glared at her, then at Guy. "Thanks for the help." Then she took off.

"Hey!" Guy darted after her.

* * *

"What do you mean you lost the gate?" Kelli slapped a hand to his face.

"We know where it is," said Gal. Back in her regular clothes, she rocked in the chair in front of Dudley. They were back in DudePow's lair, but there wasn't much they could do without the gate. "The cops have it. We'll just have to go back and get it when Mom's not there to have a giant whinge about us stealing police property."

"I wish you'd stop whinging about Mom," Kelli huffed. "She's just doing her job."

Gal glanced sideways at Guy. "At least I didn't barf at the sight of her."

Guy leaned against Dudley's console, arms folded, staring at his boots. He was still SheZow. The alternate universe was weird. He was still trying to process the last few hours. I mean, he'd been here before, but he hadn't been stuck. Now they didn't have the gate. What was he supposed to do? He squinted as Gal's words finally made it through and looked up. "I didn't barf! I just got a little weirded out."

"Wait, what?" said Kelli. He stomped over until he was nose to nose with Guy. "What's wrong with my Mom?"

Guy blinked and held up his hands. "Nothing! Your Mom's my Dad in my universe. I didn't expect to see him… her… with… um… long hair," he finally finished, though that had not been the first thing that came to mind. "And your Dad is probably my Mom."

"Really?" Kelli frowned. "Well if everyone's a different gender, I suppose they would be…" He trailing off, blinking a couple times. "Sorry. Gal just gives her enough trouble as it is."

"Pfft. I do not. And even if I did, Mom doesn't need you to defend her. So she has to clean up some of DudePow's messes? That's what she's paid to do, isn't it?"

"Not really," said Kelli, eyes narrowing again. He turned to Guy. "She's just scared Mom's going to think she's a sell-out. Cause if she ever found out her daughter was running around as a superhero, but had to dress up as a dude to do it…"

Gal flushed. "I am not. If Mom's got a problem with me being DudePow, if she ever found out, she'd just have to deal with it. I'm not changing cause she expects me to fly some superwoman flag."

"She's never said she expects you to do that…"

Guy sighed. "Don't worry Gal, she's… my dad's a pain in my dimension too."

"Thanks," said Gal, smiling at him faintly. "Maybe having you here for a bit won't be so bad. At least you get stuff."

"You're both as bad as each other," Kelli huffed.

"Well, can we go get that gate now?" Guy asked. "As much as I like hanging out with you guys… some of you…"

"No, you can't," said Kelli. "It's nearly dinner time. Dad hates it if we're late. It'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess he would…" said Guy, smiling faintly as he thought of his Mom. Then he gulped. "Oh no. What about my family? They're going to be having dinner now too, they'll expect me to be there, they'll…" The realisation came crashing down on him. How could he hide his identity, when he wasn't even in the right dimension? "They won't know what's happened…" Kelly would say something, make up some story, wouldn't she? They'd still be worried. What the hell was he supposed to use as an excuse when he came home an entire day late? He leaned back on the console, putting a hand to his head, as the lair seemed to spin around him.

"Hey, you all right, Guy?" said Gal, standing to her feet.

Guy swallowed. "I'm… I'm fine, but we can't wait."

Dudley popped back up on the screen. "I'm afraid you'll have to, son. There's no way we'll get that gate active before dinner time, even if we bring it here right away. And that will cause problems for DudePow hiding her identity, which is my first priority. But I promise once we have it, I'll do everything to help you get home. But it won't be in time for your family's dinner."

"Thanks…" Guy muttered. He wasn't foolish enough to argue. Despite his desperation to get home before he was missed, he knew that was the best they could do.

"You know what," said Gal, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You've got to eat anyway, so come to our dinner. Mom and Dad won't mind. I'll just say you're a friend. It'll take your mind off things."

Guy drew in a breath, and the thudding of his heart stilled a little. "Okay, that might help. Thanks."

Kelli was still frowning faintly. "I can't help thinking that this is going to be a terrible idea."

* * *

The Hamdon's dinner table was setup much the same as in Guy's household, as was the rest of the home, the contents indicative the one responsible for the home's decoration had an artistic flair. Guy looked around, and felt his throat grow tight. Just like home. But not. Gal led him to the kitchen, where a man with short red hair and a neatly trimmed beard and moustache, wearing an apron, was humming to himself as he stirred a big pot of soup.

"Dad, this is one of Kelli's friends, Guy," said Gal. "Can he stay for dinner?"

"Of course, sweetheart." The man turned around, and flashed a warm smile, which transformed the stranger into someone vaguely recognisable. Mom's smile.

Guy found himself staring, but at least he was prepared this time. "Hi, um… Mr. Hamdon." He swallowed, but at least he found he could speak appropriately.

"Hi, son. So, you're…" He glanced between Gal and Guy, and for a moment, Guy was worried the resemblance between him and his alternate was too great. "Kelli's friend, huh?" Gal's father raised an eyebrow. "But my daughter's the one introducing us?"

"Dad!" Gal groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead. "Your soup…" She pointed over his shoulder to the stove, where the pot had started to bubble and hiss and some soup trailed down the side.

"Oh…" Her father whirled around, eyes wide in a mild panic. "Get back in there… no, I spent too long making this…"

Gal grabbed Guy's sleeve and dragged him back into the dining room. "Kelli's friend?" Guy asked, once they were seated down across from Kelli.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Dad gets protective. I'm nearly a teenager. My parents are starting to interrogate any guy friends I 'bring in off the street'. Figured you didn't need that right now."

"Nope."

Gal's dad brought in the soup. Apparently he'd salvaged it, though Guy couldn't see why a few spits and hisses were cause for concern. Then again, Mom would've fussed over exactly the same thing. He swallowed again, and forced a smile in Gal's dad's direction. He smiled back. Well, couldn't be too worried about who his kids were hanging out with. A faint tightness took hold of Guy's chest. What the hell was he supposed to tell his own family once he got back?

The front door opened with a clang, and Gal's mom walked into the dining room. She looked a little haggard, but she rallied herself when she saw they had company. "Hey, kids. Who's your friend?"

"Mom, this is Guy."

"You look like you need a hug, Beatrix," said Gal's dad, making a beeline for her.

"Drew, I don't…" Beatrix let out a grunt as her husband wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"How's my big tough law enforcement officer?"

"Do I need to put you in handcuffs again?" Beatrix said, though she was smiling faintly, and made no attempt to pull away from her husband draped over her shoulder.

"That could be fun."

"Mom, Dad…" Kelli groaned.

He must've been getting used to them. Plus, Guy was used to his own parents being affectionate, despite the fact it made their kids feel awkward. It was okay, he could do this.

They sat down and started dinner.

"So you okay, sweetheart?" Drew said. "How was work?"

Beatrix rolled her eyes to the ceiling and groaned. "It would've been fine, except DudePow's being a jerk again…"

Gal let out a huff, and looked away from her mother, leaning her chin on one hand and sticking out her bottom lip.

"Aw, what happened?"

"He broke another cop cruiser. He cleaved it clean it half! With some giant ring disk metal thing. Now what on earth could he need that for?"

"Maybe its some important piece of DudePow's equipment. You can't expect to know what it is just by looking at it," said Gal. She lowered her voice. "I mean, you are just a cop."

"Well, whatever it was, it made a mess. But, DudePow's not going to get his hands on it. Because it's in evidence lockup."

"Well, you shouldn't have any reason to complain about him then."

"Gal!" Drew snapped.

Beatrix kept going. She either didn't hear her daughter, or her words didn't registered as an insult. "And, on top of that, he now seems to have some super…. horrendously pink… girlfriend with him. I hope she doesn't break as much stuff as he does."

"She's…" Guy started. "Probably nice." This wasn't his argument. Not his house. Not his family. He turned his attention back to his soup. He just had to get through the night, then they could work on getting him home. It'd be okay. The worse that was going to happen, was that he was going to have to come up with a really great excuse.

* * *

 **A/n:** I figured DudePow's portals would make it too easy for Guy to get home. So they're not working. Also, although portals are incredibly practical and basically render the need for any other kind of transportation unnecessary, every superhero needs actually cool transportation. So DudePow gets a motorbike. XD

And I'm having way too much fun with the parents gender-swap. I hope you like. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Kelly had initially struggled to fall asleep and couldn't remember when she'd eventually slipped off. But the next morning she was out of bed like a shot. The faster she got Guy home, the better. He was going to be in enough trouble as it was. She phoned Maz and got a bleary and garbled answer that may or may not have included the phrase 'jelly babies'.

Kelly groaned. "Maz, just pick up your balls, and come help me get this gate."

"What?!" Maz squeaked, sounding like he was now very much awake.

Kelly's eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her face. "Your bowling balls!"

"Bowling ball bruiser is retired," Maz groaned. "My arms still hurt."

Kelly met Maz in front of his house, and then took him to the warehouse in the SHE-C-10. There was a slight risk that some villain would see the super-jet, think SheZow was in it, and try to take them on. But it was a risk they'd have to take.

At the warehouse, Kelly and Maz hooked the gate up to a bunch of steel cables that Sheila swung down from the SHE-C-10. Whether not having Guy there to stir him up meant Maz didn't waste time, or if he was just as desperate as she was to get him home, Kelly wasn't sure. But they hooked the device up without incident or delay, she grabbed the dance mat, tossed it into the SHE-C-10, and then they were flying back over Megadale.

"I don't think you should fly so fast," said Maz, gripping the edges of his seat.

Kelly glared at him. She wasn't flying that fast. The gate was creating way too much drag, and the SHE-C-10 shuddered when she got anywhere near a respectable speed. "Why? The sooner we get this home…"

"Yeah, but we need to get it home. We're hauling goddess knows how much alien metal beneath us. And I know you want to get Guy home. I do too."

Kelly swallowed. "My parents are freaking…"

Maz hesitated a moment, then reached out and squeezed her shoulder quickly. "Your parents are going to worry just as much whether we get Guy back fifteen minutes from now, or three hours."

Kelly glared at Maz, then sighed, and let back on the throttle. The SHE-C-10 stopped shuddering. Guess he'd been right.

"Shemergency. Shemergency." Sheila popped up from the console. "SheZap is fighting Coldfinger at the city mall."

"And just what are supposed to do about that, Sheila?" said Kelly.

The computer paused. "Force of habit."

"Why would SheZap and Coldfinger fight?" Maz asked.

"SheZap said he wanted to be a superhero," Kelly said. "I have no idea why. That's why he shoved Guy through the gate. You know what? Let's check it out anyway."

"Kelly," said Sheila, "you and Maz won't be able to do anything to stop them. Not without SheZow."

Kelly's eyes narrowed, and she adjusted the SHE-C-10's trajectory. "Maybe. But I can still give SheZap a piece of my mind."

* * *

Kelly brought the SHE-C-10 in low over the city mall and peered out the windshield. The mall was covered in ice. Why did Coldfinger always have to put ice everywhere? What possible purpose did it serve except to announce to all and sundry exactly which villain they were dealing with?

The front of the mall exploded in a shower of glass. Coldfinger shot out of the interior, screaming, and landed right into the fountain out front. The water iced over on contact, trapping Coldfinger in a layer of ice. "Aw, nuts," he sniffled. "I hate it when this happens!"

Seconds later his assailant zipped out to stand proudly on top of the iced-up fountain, hands on his hips and shoulders thrust wide. SheZap. "That's right, Megadale! You've got a new superhero!"

"A new superhero?" someone in the gathering crowd shouted. "You look just like SheZow! What kind of cheap knock off is this?"

"I'm not a cheap knock off!" SheZap said. "Do you see a SheZow anywhere around here? Nope, only SheZap."

"What a waste of time," someone else muttered. "I got my phone out and everything."

"Dude, just use photoshop and make her pink."

"Don't you dare photoshop me into that has-been SheZow!" SheZap growled. "You'll all see…"

"Hah. He's not having much luck, is he?" Kelly climbed out of the pilot's seat, and hung her head out the SHE-C-10's door. "SheZap! Where'd you send SheZow?"

SheZap whirled around, spotted the SHE-C-10, and broke into a great big grin. "Hey, look, it's SheZow's manager! Why don't you tell all SheZow's fans where she is, huh?"

Kelly flushed. That was the last thing she needed on top of everything else. SheZow's fans freaking out.

SheZap flew up to them. "I see you've got the gate, then?"

Kelly gulped and leaned back inside the door a little bit. "Don't you dare try and take it. SheZow might not be here, but this thing does have weapons." At least, she hoped it had weapons she or Maz could use.

SheZap laughed. "You think I care if you take the gate? Even if you knew how to dial it, it's only one way. But I guess you want to find that out the hard way. Don't worry, nicking it would be rather villainous, wouldn't it? And I'm a hero now. So, I'll be nice and let you keep it. You know, as a memento of your brother. Toodles." SheZap rushed off in a blur, but not before passing right by the gate and sending it spinning on the SHE-C-10s cables.

"Maz!" Kelly grabbed onto the door and squeezed her eyes shut.

"It's okay, I got it…" The SHE-C-10 blared alarms, rocked, and then came back under Maz's control. "Phew."

"Thanks," said Kelly. She made her way back to the cockpit, grabbing every handhold she could on the way there. She was still shaking a little. If she'd lost her balance and fallen out of the plane, there'd be no SheZow to catch her. And despite SheZap's claims about being a hero now, she wasn't so certain he'd bother catching her.

"Maybe its not a good idea to harass him until we get Guy back. He's kinda overconfident. I mean, he's letting us take the gate. Let's just get it back to Sheila and get it working."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan."

Maz flew the rest of the way to the She-lair. As they approached, Maz slowed the plane down. "Aw, man…"

"What?" Kelly sat up in her seat a little straighter. There were two cop cars parked outside their house. A cruiser, and a black SUV. Not just Dad then. She groaned. "What are they doing here?"

Maz shrugged. "Guy is technically missing."

"They're not going to find him poking around the house, are they? Idiots."

"No, but what if they find some of Guy's SheZow stuff?"

Kelly's eyes widened. "Oh no. I guess I'd better check out what they're doing. You see if you can sneak this thing back into the She-lair… and don't start it up until I get down there."

"Wouldn't it be quicker to…"

"Maz, just wait for me, okay?"

"Okay." Maz let her off a few blocks over.

Kelly jogged back to the house. Mom was in the kitchen, but Kelly snuck past her and up the stairs. It was hard enough worrying about Guy as it was, she didn't need to listen to Mom stressing. Not that she could blame her. If she could tell her Guy was all right, she would. Voices were coming from Guy's bedroom. Kelly slowed down and crept towards the cracked open door.

"This is making me uncomfortable…" Her father's voice drifted through the doorway.

"If you don't want me going through anything, just tell me, and I'll let you do it. But we need something, anything, to go on."

"That's not what I meant. I keep feeling like we're going to find something… I don't know, like drugs or, I don't even know… I never felt like I had to worry about my kids having stuff like that before."

"I'd actually rather find something. It might mean he's gone off doing something, rather than someone's done something to him…"

"Please don't say it like that."

"Sorry."

The second voice was female, and Kelly couldn't pick out any others. Dad must have one of the other cops in there helping search for something to lead them to Guy. Which shouldn't have been a big problem, but Kelly didn't trust her brother not to have SheZow stuff lying out all over the place. There was no telling what conclusion Dad might draw. But it wouldn't be hard for her to outsmart a couple of cops.

Kelly steeled herself, and pushed open the door. "Dad, what are you doing?"

Boxter looked up and let out a sigh. He had dark circles under his eyes. He'd probably been up all night. "Kelly, sweetheart, can you just wait outside until we're done?"

"You can't just trash Guy's bedroom. What do you expect to find? Shouldn't you be out looking for him?"

"I think we may have actually made it a little bit tidier," said Boxter, rubbing at the corner of his eye.

The other cop was in plain clothes and a little older than Mom and Dad. She straightened up from her inspection of Guy's computer, and smiled at Kelly. "I'm Detective Johansson, you must be Kelly. I'm sure your father must've asked you already, but is there anything your brother was doing that he'd disappear for a whole night? Any weird people he'd been hanging out with?"

"No, of course not…" said Kelly. She glanced at the closet. It was shut, so they hadn't searched it yet. And if they did they'd find the She-lair. She couldn't let that happen. She strolled casually across the room, putting herself in front of it. "You know, you'd probably be better off using your considerable detective skills to check under his mattress. I know the one time he got, you know, a magazine Dad wouldn't have liked, that's where he stashed it."

"He what?" Boxter scowled, and grabbed at the corner of the mattress, sending Guy's pillows bouncing off of it.

Detective Johansson raised an eyebrow at Kelly. "Considerable detective skills, huh? Why, thank you. I'll just go over here and help your father."

As soon as both their backs were turned, Kelly cracked open the closet door. Maybe if she could dump a whole pile of Guy's clothes down the chute to the She-lair, it'd clog up. Just one good yank, and that'd be all it take to bury the evidence. Even Dad couldn't withstand the smell for long enough to dig through them. Good thing cops were so easy to distract.

Detective Johansson was suddenly right at her shoulder, snatching the closet door open all the way. "What's in the closet then?"

No way she could've helped Dad check under the whole mattress, and then turned around and caught her. Too late, Kelly realised the detective had known exactly what she'd been trying to pull. She gulped. "I can explain…" She trailed off, because the pole was still there, but the hole beneath it had been sealed. Oh, thank the goddess. Sheila must've realised they would be searching through Guy's stuff, and filled it in.

Johansson looked all around the closet, not quite game to go all the way in, and then tapped the pole. "What's that, a bit of old heating pipe or something?"

"I don't know," Boxter shrugged. "It was Droosha's aunt's house; she left it to us when she died. We keep finding all sorts of weird stuff around the place."

"Nothing else you might've been trying to hide?" Johansson folded her arms and looked down at Kelly.

"Detective…" Boxter growled.

"No…" Kelly squeaked. A flash of pink from the closet caught her eye. She was staring at it! She looked away.

Too quickly it seemed. Detective Johansson was on it in a flash, and picked up a can of shellac from the back of the closet, retreating back out with her find. She turned it over in her hands.

"That's mine," said Kelly, snatching it back.

"Kelly…" said Boxter.

"Guy had it to, um…"

"Make those soda bomb things?" Johansson offered.

"Yes!" said Kelly, and then blinked. Wait, what? Who used hairspray to make soda bombs? No one. Johansson had just provided her with a way too convenient excuse, and she'd jumped right onto it. "I need to do my homework." Kelly dashed out of the bedroom, and pressed herself against the wall, hugging the can of shellac to her chest. Guy had better not have any other SheZow stuff in there, because she was not going back in!

"You're sure she doesn't know anything?" Johansson asked.

Kelly swallowed, and crept back to the door. She might not be game to go back in, but she had to find out how much she'd stuffed up damage control.

"Of course," said Boxter, without a hint of hesitation. "And playing mind games with her isn't going to get you any answers, and I'd kind of rather you didn't…"

"Look, Hamdon, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to upset her. But if she does know something, upsetting her a little won't hurt her, and it just might save your son."

"She isn't hiding anything!"

"Not maliciously, I'm sure. She's just a kid; its entirely possible she thinks she's doing the right thing keeping something secret, but its something that'll help us find Guy. And I get if you don't want to think your daughter would do something like that, but that is one of the reasons I'm here."

Boxter sighed. "You're also the only detective who'd let me help, despite regulations. Look, I'll keep an eye on her. But her talking down to you doesn't mean anything. She's just… she's just got a smart mouth. She's smart, and she's kind of just figured that out, and she seems to like pushing the boundaries with her old man cause she knows I can't keep up with her anymore. She knows where to stop. Guess she figured you were just as dumb as rocks as her dad."

Kelly swallowed. She didn't think Dad was dumb.

"Okay, perhaps," Johansson admitted. "Maybe she was just worried you'd get mad because your son's been using hairspray that doesn't have 'for men' on it."

Boxter snorted. "If I seriously cared about that, Droosha wouldn't have to keep hiding her products from me. Kelly's just worried about Guy. I mean, what are we doing? We're not going to find him here. I just wish I'd…"

"What?"

"I don't even know, Detective, but I have to find him. I'll have failed my family if I don't."

"You won't, but I get it. Just keep your cool, all right? I'll keep you on the investigation as long as its up to me, and as long as you being here is helping, okay?"

Kelly turned the can of shellac over in her hands. It always annoyed her when Guy trashed Megadale, and then left if for the cops to clean up. Wasn't she herself now wasting police resources making them look for him? And upsetting Dad. It wasn't his fault Guy was gone, and no matter how hard he looked, he would never find him. Then she heard footsteps, her father and Detective Johansson moving towards the door. Kelly hugged the shellac to her chest, and rushed down into the basement. If she hung around in the house, she'd just end up looking at the basement door suspiciously, and that detective would know.

* * *

When Kelly arrived in the She-lair, the gate was setup, the dance mat connected. She flushed, and her hands balled into fists. "I told you not to start without me!"

Maz frowned at her. "What happened? You okay?"

"I just wish Guy wouldn't leave his junk lying around!" Kelly pegged the shellac across the lair, where it bounced off one of the walls with a hollow clatter.

Maz blinked.

"Kelly, we've only just finished setting it up. It's not ready to go yet. We'll need a pretty decent power source to activate it," said Sheila.

Kelly drew in a deep breath, and then blew it out slowly. "Okay, so where are we going to get that?"

"It's just a matter of hooking enough power cables up."

"Not to my parents power supply, I hope," Kelly grumbled. Like they needed a massive power bill right now.

"No, I have my own supply. If I ran off your parents power, they'd know if by now, believe me. Don't worry, it'll be fine."

A pile of cables were stacked in one corner of the She-lair. Kelly and Maz progressively hooked all of them up to the gate. The gate began to hum, and the power boards connecting everything became a sparking, buzzing mess.

"I'm guessing that means it has enough power?" Kelly winced.

Maz chewed his lip."Are we sure this is safe? It looks like my dad's attempt at Christmas lights last year. And that was just bad…"

"Since when have you ever worried about safe?" Kelly huffed. "We need to get Guy back."

"Yeah. All right, here goes…" Maz approached the mat, then winced.

"Come on, Maz. You play video games all the time," Kelly snapped.

"Yeah, but I usually either use my thumbs… or they're VR… okay, here goes…" It took Maz a couple tries, but on the third, he hit all the symbols Sheila had recorded.

The gate spat out its blue wave with a whoosh, then collapsed back to the flat, shimmering blue surface, remaining stable. Kelly let out a sigh. "Thank the goddess."

"We're now connected to the address SheZap put in," said Sheila. "Now, both of you stay put. I don't want you getting stuck there with Guy. I'll try and send him a message."

* * *

 **A/n:** I've wanted to stick Kelly and Johansson in a scene together for some time. This wasn't quite what I had in mind… I think they'd get on. Might do more stuff with them interacting later. XD


	5. Chapter 5

Guy woke up from his pile of beanbags with a groan. They had been incredibly comfy when he'd fallen asleep. Somewhere during the night he'd shifted off the cushion of tiny styrofoam beans and into a hole. He rolled over, the beans crunching beneath him, and then crashed onto the floor. "Ow…"

"Good morning, Guy. Did you sleep well?" Dudley's voice made it very clear he was no longer in his own world.

Guy groaned, and pushed himself to his feet, rubbing at his back. "Yeah, kind of. Still wish I was waking up in my own bed though."

"I understand," said Dudley with a smile. "Don't worry. I'll wake up Gal and Kelli, and we'll start working on getting that gate back."

Half an hour later and Gal, Kelli and Maizy were down in DudePow's lair.

"I got photos of the symbols on the gate," said Kelli. "I'll start working with Dudley to try and figure out how it works."

"I don't see why you need me," said Maizy with a huff. "I was catching up on my beauty sleep."

Gal rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't, actually. I just thought you'd be interested. Guy can help me if you don't want to."

"Got a new sidekick then have we?"

"Come on Maizy," said Gal, "don't be like that."

Maizy sighed, and her glare softened. "I'm sorry. Look, it's fine. I've got stuff I need to do anyway. I'll catch up with you later."

"Come on, Guy. We'll take the Dudecycle," said Gal.

The Dudecycle was a black and blue beast with a sleek gleamy form. It sat in the centre of DudePow's lair, like it was on display.

"Whoa," said Guy. "Can I…"

"Nope." Gal picked up a spare helmet, and tossed it to Guy. "On the back, mister."

Guy turned the bright blue helmet over in his hands. "Have you got a pink one?"

"Seriously?"

"SheZow is supposed to match… um… it'll do."

The Dudecycle wove its way through Megadale's streets, cutting off vehicles to the blare of horns. Guy wasn't sure if the superbike was actually faster than the Shehicle, or simply more manoeuvrable. Maybe it just felt like it. He had his arms wrapped around Gal's waist, mindful of keeping his hands not too high or too low, but he still clung to her for dear life.

"Has your friend Maz… has he started getting weird about the superhero stuff?" asked Gal.

For a second, Guy wondered why he was hearing Gal's voice so clear when the entire world, sights sounds and smells, where rushing by him in a blur. There must've been a feed built directly into his helmet. "Um, no. I mean, sure, sometimes we've had fights about it. But we've always worked it out. He's still my best friend. Why?"

Gal was quiet for a moment, the whine of the Dudecycle's engine filling the silence. "Well, Maizy has."

Guy opened his mouth to ask for further clarification, when another voice broke into his helmet-space.

"Hemergeny, Hemergency. Mellowpus is attacking the down-town markets."

Guy snorted. "Mellowpus?"

"You don't have a Mellowpus?" asked Gal.

"We've got a Mocktopus. Big green guy with tentacles. Shrieks a lot and likes stealing fish. Insults people."

"Mellowpus prefers to steal plants, and it sounds like she's a little quieter, but she's still a pain." All trace of the strain in Gal's voice when talking about her best friend were gone. As far as Guy could tell, her mind had switched clean over to the upcoming battle. "So, what do you say, SheZow? You want to help me kick her butt?"

Guy chewed his lip. The faintest twinge pulled at his gut; he needed to get that gate and get home. But, the thought of taking on new villains was enough to bring SheZow's fighting instincts clawing to the surface. He broke into a grin. "Let's do it, girlfriend."

"Brother, bro," said Gal. "You don't want to embarrass DudePow, do you?"

"Not that I would do it on purpose, but SheZow's superior fighting skills might make him a little uncomfortable."

Gal laughed loudly, and Guy couldn't help grinning at the sound. "We'll see." She revved the Dudecycle, cut across two lanes of traffic, and headed in the direction of the market.

* * *

The tangle of sea serpent sat on top of a city bus. This was parked next to Megadale's market, which, in this Megadale, was not down by the pier, but in a park a little closer to the city. No fish, but that wasn't what Mellowpus was after. She had a half dozen handbags, all made out of that hemp hippie material Mom seemed to like so much, strung around her neck. She was setting one on fire, waving it around so that the smoke it produced filled the air. Her hair was green and separated into seaweed-like dreadlocks, like Mocktopus', but was interspersed with different beads and feathers. "I don't understand you people. Wasting perfectly good stuff on handbags."

"Hey, Mellowpus!" Gal leapt from the Dudecycle, executing a perfect flip and landing on her feet. She took off her helmet. "You looking for a fight?"

"Oh, why do we need to fight?" said Mellowpus. She oozed off the bus in a limp flop of tentacles. She certainly didn't look like a threat. I mean, not that Mocktopus was a threat. But Mellowpus looked even less so. It would be like fighting a jellyfish.

Gal flung her helmet.

Mellowpus whipped up a tentacle, and the helmet bounced off and sailed over her head. "I told you not to fight me, you'll just make me angry!" She pulled out a weird device, like part of one of Kelly's chemistry sets, a big fat bulbous glass thing filled with coloured smoke, with a spout. Then she sucked on it and puffed a great big billow of smoke at them.

Gal stepped back, whipping up DudePow's cape in one hand and using it to block her nose and mouth. "SheZow, don't breath it in!"

"Why…" Guy choked off as he sucked in a mouthful of smoke. As it filled his lungs, the market shifted around him into a kaleidoscope of colours. "Whoa."

"Damn it." Gal grabbed Guy by the collar, and dragged him out of the smoke cloud. Guy coughed and spluttered, and as he got the last trace of smoke out of his lungs, his vision cleared instantaneously. Score one for SheZow's metabolism.

"What is that smoke thing she's got?" he asked, wiping at his eyes.

"I have no idea," said Gal. "I asked Dad, because he has a similar thing sitting up on a shelf, but he says it's just an ornament. Mom doesn't seem to like it. But stay away from it, Mellowpus isn't really that hard to beat, but you breath too much of that stuff in, and its the fastest way to finding yourself waking up in a jail cell with no idea how you got there."

"Oh, DudePow," said Mellowpus, emerging from the haze and swaying side to side, like she was dancing to a slow tune only she could hear.

"Well, she's just as loud as Mocktopus," said Guy. "But at least she's not as shrill. Hey, fish face, you smell like… actually, you smell like my Mom's incense…"

Mellowpus stuck her nose in the air. "Your girlfriend is rude!"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"I'm not her… his girlfriend. I'm SheZow! And I'm going to be joining in the general butt-kicking today."

"By which she means your butt, sister," said Gal. She winked at Guy. "Super heavy handed he-slap!"

"Super heavy handed she-slap!" said Guy, powering up and releasing the attack at exactly the same moment as his counterpart.

Mellowpus sailed back under the double impact, releasing a puff of smoke as she crashed back into the ground. She hauled herself back up, and whipped a tentacle around, reaching for Gal. The tentacle snagged DudePow and dragged him towards her. "Chillax, sweetheart."

"Hey!" Guy dashed in after her, and grabbed at one of Mellowpus' tentacles. The smoke was making it a bit hard to concentrate again, but Guy held his breath.

Mellowpus let out a little shriek, and Guy finally spotted Gal. She was in less trouble than he'd initially thought. She had her cheeks puffed out as she too held her breath, and had slipped out of the tentacle holding her and was tying it in a knot with another.

"SheZow, lets tie this freak up and show her…" Gal clamped her mouth shut again to stop herself gulping air to finish her sentence, and then just kind of glared at him, like that would get her point across.

"Got it," said Guy.

They both dashed around Mellowpus, twisting tentacles here and there until she was thoroughly trussed up. Then they flew out of the dissipating smoke cloud and each drew in a gulp of air. Mellowpus flopped over onto the ground, no longer able to hold herself upright, blew out a little smoke ring, and watched it float away with a blissful smile.

Guy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, she is way more chill then Mocktopus. He'd be screeching the place down by now."

"Well, the cops can have her," Gal said with a shrug. The wail of sirens were already growing near. She threw a leg over the Dudecycle, and Guy climbed on behind her. "You know, we do actually fight well together."

"Yeah, hopefully we'll get to kick a bit more villain butt before I go home." The thought of kicking more butt made Guy grin, but as Gal tore away on the Dudecycle with a screech of tyres, it was tempered by the thought of home.

* * *

"You know, I have never broken into a police station before." Guy leaned against the alleyway wall behind this Megadale's police station, arms folded.

Gal held the tablet Kelli had been using before, prodding its screen. "I have, once, but then DudePow had his portals. So it was easy to slip inside without anyone noticing. Mom had a giant rant about it when the cops realised their 'evidence' was missing. This thing should show us where the gate is… if I can make it work!"

"I usually rely on my SheSP."

"Your what?"

"I think its like female intuition?"

"Sounds like cheating to me… yes!" Gal held the tablet up in triumph. "Okay, that's why it wasn't showing up. The gate is in the impound next door, thank god."

"That's good. I'm guessing the impound doesn't have a roof, or solid walls…"

Gal waved a blue clad hand dismissively. "Pfft, I could break down a wall if I had to. But Mom would've had a conniption."

"I can imagine."

"Does your dad rant that bad?"

"Oh yeah. All the time," said Guy with a roll of his eyes. "It's like he thinks SheZow is out to personally make him look bad. I mean, how is she supposed to fight crime if she has to worry about breaking things? If she had to do that, she'd be just as useless as the cops."

"I know, right!"

"And can you imagine what he'd say if he discovered his son was running around in this…" Guy held out the edge of SheZow's skirt. "I don't even like wearing this thing."

"Better than the alternative, sometimes I think DudePows tights are way too revealing."

"I guess, but at least girls are allowed to wear pants. Dad would…" Guy trailed off, then swallowed hard. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. He's going to be freaking out now. Way more than if he knew his son was SheZow. I mean, if he knew, Kelly could tell him where I was, and he and Mom wouldn't have to worry so much."

"Hey," said Gal, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Once we get this thing back, and brain box and Dudley start working on getting it open, I'll help you come up with a really, really great excuse."

Guy smiled faintly. "Deal. Let's get that gate."

They flew over the chainlink gate of the impound, past an older grey haired man taking a snooze in the gatehouse. Rows and rows of cars and vehicles of various ages and states of disrepair lined the earthen lot. The only non vehicles were a giant metal robot, and the gate.

Gal and Guy grabbed it, and started hoisting it into the air.

"It should not be so easy to steal from the cops," said Gal with a sigh.

"Well, they were hardly going to fit it into the cop shop," said Guy. "Hey, so, maybe it might be an idea to not carry this so high up?"

Gal winced. "Good idea. I don't want to drop it on another of Mom's cruisers…"

"Or, you know, people."

"That too…"

Three blocks away, it was a good thing they did it Guy's way. The gate began to rumble and shake and light up in their hands.

"Okay, what the heck is happening?!" Gal said.

"It's activating!" said Guy. "I think we should put it down…"

The final chevron clicked into place, and the gate let out a massive whoosh. Guy let go and flew back, and the gate clattered the last few feet to the ground.

"DudePow?"

"I'm fine…" Gal stood to her feet on the opposite side of the gate. It now lay horizontal, the shimmering blue surface again in place over its centre. "So, what's it doing?"

"Its active again…"

"Back home?"

"I don't know…"

SheZow's ring lit up with a sparkle of pink, and a pair of pink lips appeared above it. "SheZow, come in SheZow," said Sheila.

"Sheila!" Guy said. The grin that split his face almost made his cheeks hurt.

"Guy, thank the goddess!" said Sheila. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine, Sheila. I'm here with DudePow. My parents…. "

"They're freaking out," said Sheila, a growl creeping into her voice. "If you're okay, why didn't you come home? You realise we're going to have to come up with something truly shetacular to convince them your absence has nothing to do with SheZow."

"My portals are on the fritz because of this thing, otherwise he would've used those to get home" said Gal. "That's why we've got the gate, we were going to figure out how to make it work, to send Guy back to you."

"Okay, that's all right then. But, now that we've activated it, Guy can come home. We'll work out what to tell your parents once you're here."

Guy's shoulders sagged. Despite the fun he'd been having with Gal, it was still a relief. "Thanks, Sheila. Can you just give me a minute? I want to say goodbye to DudePow."

"Of course." Sheila's shimmering image disappeared from above SheZow's ring.

"So, I guess that means you won't be helping me take down any more villains?" said Gal. She smiled at him faintly.

"Yeah," Guy winced. "I'm sorry, I was having fun."

"Me too." Gal cleared her throat. "Look, we'll try and fix those portals. I'll contact you once we do. We can kick butt together again then."

"Yeah," Guy grinned. "I'd like that."

"We do make a good team, and…" Gal's eyes focused on a point behind Guy, and then her eyes widened. "SheZow, look out!" She hit Guy in a flying tackle, knocking him to the ground.

Something green flew over their heads and slammed into the gate. The alien metal sucked up the energy like a sponge. But it was too much for it. The gate crackled with green lightning, shuddered, and then shut down.

"No!" Guy hauled himself to his feet and grabbed at the edge of the gate. A shock danced up his hands, and he drew back with a yelp. He peered over the lip, as he feared, the shimmering surface of blue was gone. "No…" He held up his fist, ring up. "Sheila, Sheila, can you hear me?" No reply. Guy gritted his teeth, and fought back the sting at the back of his eyes.

"Hey, DudePow, what you got there? Some new toy you're not going to share with your old pal?"

Guy whirled around at the voice, fists balling up, ready to clobber whomever had shut down his ticket home. A man in a green, tightly-clad body suit was slowly lowering his outstretched fist. Around his wrist was a metal device which had fired the green laser that had overloaded the gate. He had a blonde beard and hair and was still in fairly respectable shape, though, he probably shouldn't have been wearing a skintight suit, because it made the faintest hint of belly fat way too visible. The suit was etched by a great big muscle binding T. Guy's jaw hung open. "Wait, Tara?"

"Tara?!" the man roared. "Why does no one remember my name? And that's not even a guy's name. It's Terry! And I was somebody until your boyfriend here decided to hog all the glory."

Gal looked Terry up and down, unperturbed by his outburst. "You need to cut back on the burgers, man."

Terry growled and bunched up his fists. "You are so going to pay for everything you've done to me!"

Gal matched the macho stance, tensing her muscles. "Come at me, bro!"

* * *

 **A/n:** I'm honestly not sure what to do with Maizy. She's kind of eeehhr and I don't want to go and make her a total idiot, so I don't expect there'll be a lot of her in this fic. But like, maybe a bit.

Not sure if Mellowpus is as the show would have done an alternate Mocktopus because… you know… drug references. XD

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I need to actually plot what is happening next so I don't write myself into a hole. Shoot me a review and let me know what you think. :)


	6. Chapter 6

In the She-lair, the gate was taken over by an onslaught of green lightning. The gate crackled for a brief moment, then shut down. Along with every light in the She-lair. Sheila's console let out a crack and her screen went blank.

"What the hell was that?" Kelly jumped back from the console, just in time to stop the crackling sheet of electricity that had enveloped the equipment jumping to her.

"The gate shut down," said Maz. The green electricity fizzled out, leaving the lair in darkness. "I can't see a thing."

"I know, Maz." Why hadn't it worked? They'd had a connection, just for an instant. She hadn't even gotten the chance to speak to her brother!

Something in the She-lair whirred, and a pink glow enveloped everything. But the usual lights didn't come back on. Kelly blinked. "Okay, so SheZow gets emergency lighting… Sheila, what just happened. Sheila?"

The console didn't make a sound. No lights came back on it and Sheila's screen remained blank. Oh no. Kelly gulped at the dryness in her throat. "Sheila, can you hear me?"

Maz moved up next to her, and mashed his hands across the console. "Sheila! Oh no, it broke Sheila."

Kelly slumped in her chair. "Whatever it was, it created a power surge in the gate. And it was hooked up to Sheila's power source. It must've…"

"Sheila, can you hear me? Come on, speak to me," said Maz. He stared up at the computer, the pink glow casting his features in an eerie light. His eyes searched the darkened screen for any signs of life.

"I'm sure she's fine, Maz. Maybe she just needs to recharge."

Maz glanced sideways at her. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, positive." I mean, it had to be temporary, right? It was Sheila.

"What about Guy?"

Kelly glanced at the gate and chewed her lip. "We could start it up again. I know the address."

"But what about Sheila? What if it hurts her again?"

Kelly had no idea why the gate had done what it'd done. Or what it'd done to Sheila. Starting it up again, at least hooked up to Sheila's power source? Even if Sheila was only rebooting, she'd need that power for herself. "We find SheZap. He knows how to activate it. Maybe he can tell us what happened or what else can power it."

Maz rubbed a hand across his forehead. "He won't just tell us, Kelly."

"Well, we'll find him, and we'll make him." Kelly stood to her feet, and stomped across to the Shehicle.

"How are we supposed to do that?"

Kelly squeezed her eyes shut, pushing Maz's question out of her mind before she had the time to overthink it. If she thought too much on this, she'd freeze up, and then she'd be no good to anybody. She had to get Guy back. She knew he was okay now. But there was still Mom and Dad. The less time Guy spent away from them, the better for everyone. "Get in the Shehicle Maz, or I'm leaving you behind."

* * *

Even with Sheila's systems down, the Shehicle still maintained some basic functionality. Kelly used its systems to locate the latest superhero fight. She poked the flashing blip on the Shehicle's centre console. "That has to be SheZap.

"Maybe I should drive?" said Maz.

"Maz, this is a girl's car, you know."

"You did not just seriously…" Maz gulped as Kelly stomped her foot down on the gas. "Ahh!"

Kelly let out a shriek at the unexpected surge of acceleration, but she quickly wrestled the Shehicle back under control. They arrived downtown in minutes, and parked the Shehicle in a nearby alleyway.

"You drive… like your Mom…" Maz gasped. He gripped the door handle, his eyes wide.

"So does Guy," Kelly said with a roll of her eyes. "And thanks."

A loud crash from down the street alerted them to the probable direction of SheZap's fight. Kelly and Maz slipped out of the Shehicle and headed towards the sounds. They found SheZap facing Mocktopus in the middle of Megadale's streets.

"Mocktopus, you're not allowed to steal things," said SheZap.

"Seriously, what is your problem? Where's SheZow? And what's wrong with stealing?"

SheZap shrugged. "Hell, I don't know. Cops don't seem to like it though, so I'm going to stop you. And it's SheZap you gotta worry about now, toots. Not SheZow."

Mocktopus growled, activated his electrified tail, and swung it at SheZap. SheZap disappeared into a shadow, and then rematerialised right on top of Mocktopus' back. "Yeehaw!"

"Ah! Get it off, get it off!" Mocktopus squealed. He began to jerk around in a frenzy, tentacles flailing everywhere.

SheZap grabbed onto Mocktopus' neck tighter and grinned madly.

"SheZap!" Kelly yelled, cupping her hands to her mouth. "I want to talk to you!"

"Not now, sweetheart. I'm kind of busy saving the world here."

"Saving the world? It's just Mocktopus!"

SheZap slipped off Mocktopus' neck, grabbed a tentacle, and began to spin him around.

"Kelly…" Maz grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back.

A cop car slewed around the corner. It wasn't one of the cruisers, but a big black SUV with MDPD stencilled in white on the side. At the exact same moment, SheZap let Mocktopus go and he sailed through the air, right for the SUV. For a second, it looked like he'd crush it, cops inside and all. But then the vehicle wrapped hard in the opposite direction, rear tyres losing traction, and turned the skid out of Mocktopus' way. Mocktopus sailed clear past and thunked into the side of a building with a little moan

"Crap," said one of the cops. "See, that's what's called 'evasive manoeuvres'. If you guys learnt some you might not lose so many cruisers…"

Maz winced. "Oh no, not the cops."

Kelly didn't even bother to look at the cops, not once she knew the hadn't been crushed. "Forget them," she said. They were hardly going to arrest her for just yelling at SheZap. And she needed answers, now. At worse, she'd get told off for being a kid and hanging around a super fight. But, at least she knew it wasn't Dad, because he'd be in one of the cruisers. Also, knowing his luck, had he been driving Mocktopus would've crushed the vehicle.

"SheZap!" she said, "we need to talk about the gate."

SheZap was standing on top of a phone booth, the highest stage he could find for himself in the immediate area. He had his hands on his hips and his shoulders thrust back. "Shh. I'm trying to look good here. I just defeated a major villain; I'm sure the media will be here any moment."

Kelly snorted. "It does not work that way, or haven't you been paying attention? One, it's Mocktopus, so no one cares. Two, you broke a building…"

"Yeah, but I looked good doing it." SheZap winked at her. "With SheZow gone and all, how about you be my manager now? You can show me how it all works."

"Not a chance, SheZap! You're going to get down here and tell me how I get SheZow out of the alternate dimension, how I can power the gate, how I…" It was all coming out in a rush. How could she get answers from SheZap? She had no powers. She certainly couldn't beat them out of him.

"Kelly!"

The voice brought her whirling around. Her throat tightened. "Dad?" What was he doing here? He stood beside the SUV with Detective Johansson. Of course. It was her vehicle, and they'd been working together to find Guy just this morning.

Boxter made his way over to Kelly; his hands were bunched at his sides and shaking.

"Hamdon, be careful." Johansson's eyes were on SheZap, and she pulled out her handgun, though she didn't raise it past her side.

"Kelly, what the hell are you doing?" Boxter grabbed her shoulder and put himself in front of her, between her and SheZap. "They were just fighting."

"Dad, it's over," said Kelly. "I'm perfectly safe."

"She just threw Mocktopus, she left a hole in a building, she could've…" Boxter swallowed hard. "Kelly, just stay right there and don't you dare take a step closer."

SheZap looked Boxter up and down. "Wow, Officer, you look like crap."

"Shut up, Shecow!"

"I'm not SheZow," SheZap growled, hands balling into fists. "I'm SheZap. SheZow has been sent to another dimension, and…"

"Yeah, you know what? I don't give a shit!" Boxter burst out. "I've got enough going on trying to find my son. I do not need some wannabe wasting my time right now!"

SheZap's eyes narrowed, and then he just laughed. "Oh, yeah. You must be really, really confused about what happened to Guy."

Kelly drew in a faint gasp. SheZap had not just…

Boxter froze. "How do you know my son's name? What do you know about where Guy is?"

SheZap yawned, and examined his fingernails.

"You know what happened to my son? Tell me!"

"Dad, don't…"

"Kelly, stay back there!"

Kelly gulped.

"Well, I can't tell you exactly how the poor boy is," said SheZap. He shrugged. "He could be perfectly fine, or he could be dead for all I know."

"He's not!" Kelly shouted. She was not going to let Dad think that! Not when she, or at least Sheila, had just talked to Guy barely an hour ago. It was bad enough Dad thought Guy was in danger or hurt.

SheZap grinned, and disappeared into shadow. And then Kelly felt a hand on her shoulder. "Your daughter here was just asking me about SheZow. You see, SheZow is missing too. It's she who I wanted to be rid of. Your son was just unfortunate collateral."

Boxter whirled around. He was already angry, his face red. But as soon as he saw where SheZap was he exploded: "Get your hands off my daughter!"

Kelly slapped SheZap off. The touch made her shiver, but she didn't think SheZap would actually hurt her. He was having too much fun.

Boxter was over to him in a second; he grabbed SheZap's collar with one hand and yanked him towards him. "You're lucky you know something about Guy, or I swear…"

SheZap's eyes flashed. He grabbed Boxter's wrist and twisted it from his collar.

"Dad!"

Boxter dropped to his knees with a gasp.

SheZap leaned in and held Boxter there, his hand barely encircling the larger man's wrist, but holding him down none the less. Boxter didn't struggle. He couldn't. But his teeth were gritted and he had broken out in a sweat.

Kelly rushed over and grabbed SheZap by the arm, trying to drag him off her father. She'd tear SheZap's arm off… if she had the strength. "You want to be a superhero, SheZap? Superheroes don't hurt cops!"

SheZap eyed her for a moment, fingers still clamped into Boxter's wrist. Then he shrugged and released him. "He started it."

Johansson moved around SheZap, gun now trained on him. "Oh no," she growled. "It doesn't work that way. You step away from my officer, right now."

SheZap scowled. "Just so you know, bullets can't hurt me. But, I'm a good guy now, so I'll let it slide. This time. Good luck with your gate." He winked at Kelly, then disappeared into shadow.

Kelly dropped to her knees next to Boxter, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Dad…"

Boxter was hugging his arm to his chest, eyes squeezed shut. But when he felt Kelly's touch he reached out and grabbed her instead. "She didn't hurt you, did she?

Kelly swallowed. "No, Dad. She hurt you."

Johansson slipped her gun back into her holster. "Hamdon, are you all right?"

Boxter stood to his feet unsteadily, cradling his arm again. He grunted and blinked a few times, going a little pale as his body adjusted. But he seemed to steady himself, and then he glared at Kelly. "What were you thinking?" Though his voice was a little shaky, the underlying growl was clearly there.

"I was trying to…"

"What? Find SheZow? What happened to her? What does it have to do with Guy? What aren't you telling me?"

Kelly swallowed and looked at the ground. She could feel her father's glare on her, but she didn't dare look up.

"Kelly," Boxter finally spoke again. "Your brother is missing. He could be hurt. You understand that, right? If you don't tell us what's going on he could…"

Kelly couldn't let her father think like that. It wasn't fair. But how to explain? "Dad he'll… he'll be okay."

"And just how do you know that?"

"I just… I just do."

"Kelly…"

"You don't have to worry, okay? I've got it under control." Kelly finally worked up the courage to look at him.

Boxter was silent for a long moment, just staring at her, still cradling his hand. He sighed, and broke eye contact. "I'm taking you home. You're grounded until Guy turns up. Or until you tell me what you know."

"Dad, but…"

"Don't argue with me."

This was the last thing she needed right now! How was she supposed to rescue Guy if she was grounded? "You're not even making any sense! What have I done? Why? Give me one good logical reason and…"

"Because I don't want to lose you too!"

Kelly blinked, feeling the back of her eyes sting. "Dad, he's not…"

"I don't care, all right? I'm taking you home."

Johansson looked between the two of them. "Hamdon," she said gently. "You can't drive with that wrist. You need to get it looked at."

Boxter glared at her. "I'm fine." He let go his hand and flexed it to demonstrate, and then shuddered and bit down on a cry that made Kelly's guts clench. "This is not police business," he said thickly, eyes still squeezed shut. "So don't try and boss me around."

"You want her home?" said Johansson. "Let me take her. I'll keep her safe, I promise. We should have back up here in a few minutes; I'll get one of them to take you to the hospital, okay?"

"I… yeah, okay."

"Kelly," said Johansson, "I think you'd better wait for me in the SUV. And no taking off on me, your father doesn't need that right now."

Kelly just nodded, and went and climbed up into the big vehicle, slamming the door behind her. She did want to run off. It'd be the best way to help Guy, even if she did get in trouble later. And Maz had run off. He was nowhere to be seen! Must've taken off as soon as Dad appeared.

But if she ran off it would upset Dad. And Kelly was pretty certain that was exactly why Johansson had said what she'd said. The fact Kelly knew she was being manipulated didn't really help, just made her madder. She folded her arms with a huff, and then her shoulders slumped as she looked up and saw her father had sunk down onto the curbing, staring listlessly at some point on the road in front of him. Johansson was sitting beside him, talking to him, but of course Kelly couldn't hear what she was saying.

* * *

It only took ten minutes for the other cops to arrive. Wackerman helped Boxter into one of the cruisers, hand on his shoulder to steady him. Kelly watched from the SUV; she still hadn't worked up the courage to bolt. And it was too late now. The cruiser drove off, and Johansson got into the SUV next to Kelly, put it in gear, and pulled off without a word.

The detective was saying nothing, and Kelly wasn't sure if that was part of some mind game. "Is Dad going to be okay?" she eventually asked. Surely that question couldn't give anything away?

"I think he will be," said Johansson. "But SheZap did hurt him. If I hadn't dismissed him, I'm pretty sure he would've kept trying to help, despite being in pain. He's really worried about your brother."

Kelly just nodded, feeling a lump rise in her throat. If she hadn't confronted SheZap, Dad wouldn't have been hurt. But she'd never get Guy back without SheZap telling her how! What was she supposed to do?

"So, whatever happened to Guy… you know he's definitely okay, right?"

Kelly almost said yes. She blinked, and felt herself flush. "I don't know where he is, okay? Or SheZow. And asking indirect questions isn't going to change that!"

Johansson blinked a few times, briefly startled, then she shrugged. "Okay, that's not going to work. You've got me pegged. That was quick." She almost seemed to be talking to herself, but Kelly knew she was supposed to hear.

Kelly fixed her gaze out the window, and said nothing. They were almost home. If she said nothing more, she couldn't slip up. Johansson pulled up into their driveway, and Kelly grabbed at the door handle as soon as she stopped and tugged. But the door didn't open. Kelly gulped. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. "Look, don't you think if I knew something, I'd tell you? Or Dad. I didn't want him to get hurt, I wouldn't have…"

Johansson sighed. "I think that sometimes people know things, and sometimes they think they're doing the right thing by keeping something secret. No, I don't think you'd make your parents worry on purpose. But you might think that something you're keeping to yourself, something that might be protecting Guy, or someone else, that might be something that can tell us where he is."

"You're digging again," Kelly growled. She fixed her eyes out the windshield.

"Yeah, I am." Johansson reached into her jacket and pulled out a card. "Kelly if there's something you don't want your parents to know, but can help us find Guy… I know you probably don't trust me, but if it'll help us find him, if you tell me, I don't have to tell your Mom and Dad." She turned the card over in her hands, then held it out to Kelly. "If you think of anything."

Kelly eyed the card, then snatched it from Johansson's hand. The door beside her clicked softly. Johansson had unlocked it. Kelly threw it open and rushed into the house, into her room. She looked at the card. As she'd suspected, it had Johansson's contact details on it. She swallowed hard, and then shoved the card into her laptop and snapped it shut, not quite able to bring herself to throw it away.

* * *

It had been impossible to get down to the She-lair. Johansson must've told Mom what had happened, or at least that Dad had said she was grounded, because Mom came up and told her to stay in her room. She wasn't even angry, else Kelly might have argued with her, but she looked like she'd burst into tears if she did, and Kelly didn't want to deal with that now. Not after what had happened to Dad. So she hadn't argued.

She couldn't sneak down to the lair through Guy's closet because Sheila had closed it up. Mom had gone downstairs, cleaning everything because she was stressed, so Kelly couldn't sneak in through the basement either.

She'd thought about texting Maz. He'd just taken off on her! She wanted to yell at him, but couldn't be bothered. If he wanted to call and apologise, he could.

It was near evening when Kelly finally crept downstairs. She'd heard the police cruiser pull up into the driveway. Dad was home. Part of her wanted to hide from him, but she also wanted to check he was okay. Maybe she could check without him seeing her.

Boxter had just come in through the front door. He looked exhausted, and his arm was in a sling. Droosha walked into the hallway from the kitchen and put her hands to her mouth as she saw him. "Boxter, oh baby…"

"It's okay. Aw, Droosha, don't cry, it's just a bad sprain." Boxter shifted his arm, and slipped the sling from around his neck. "I don't even need this bit, it's just comfier." His wrist wasn't in a cast, just strapped up to keep him from moving it around. He couldn't quite repress a shudder as he unstrapped the sling.

Droosha took the sling from him gently. "You still got hurt," she said, voice catching. She shifted his arm out of the way, before wrapping her arms around his chest and pressing against him.

Boxter hugged her back, and they kept holding each other.

Droosha sniffed a few times, then asked: "Did you find anything?"

"No. Nothing. And now Johansson's probably not even going to let me help cause I've been an idiot…"

"You're not an idiot."

Boxter swallowed hard. "I just don't know what to do. I know you were trusting me to fix this, but I can't. I just… I don't know what else I can do. There's no trace of him. I'm sorry."

"It'll be okay though, right? Detective Johansson does this sort of stuff all the time, so she'll know what to look for, right?"

Boxter swallowed again, and Kelly could see the tears filling his eyes.

"Boxter?"

"She… I don't know. I'm scared… for… for Guy."

Kelly crept back up to her room.

* * *

A few minutes later, Dad came up to Kelly's room. He knocked lightly, then stuck his head in through the door. "Sweetheart, can I come in?"

Kelly swallowed. "Dad, about this morning. I'm sorry, I…"

Boxter came right over and sat next to her on the bed, and put his arms around her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

Boxter held onto her a little longer than he usually did. "Look, I'm sorry I shouted so much at you today, okay? You just scared me."

"I was just trying to find out what happened to SheZow, she's missing too." That bit of information couldn't possibly give anything away, could it?

"Do you think it's connected? I mean, SheZap said something about Guy being…" Boxter cleared his throat and blinked a couple times.

"I don't know." Kelly reached out and grasped her father's arm. "But, you know, if Guy's with SheZow, he's safe. She'd find a way to bring him home with her."

Boxter was quiet for a moment.

"Dad?"

"You know I love you, right?" He hugged her again suddenly.

Kelly blinked and squeezed him back. "Are you okay?"

Boxter drew back and rubbed at the corner of his eye. "Sorry… arm's hurting." He took a moment to steady himself. "Look, you're not grounded. I know you wouldn't keep anything from me. But just stay away from super villains, okay? And let us know what you're doing, where you are. We don't… your Mom doesn't need the extra stress right now."

"Okay."

"And if you do find out anything about SheZow, or Guy, you'll let me know, right?"

Kelly swallowed. "Of course."

Boxter smiled at her faintly. "Thanks, sweetheart." He'd believed her, just like that. For a moment, Kelly almost wished he'd see right through her like Detective Johansson seemed to.

* * *

Kelly finally made it down to the She-lair, once Mom and Dad went to bed. They went in early, and she didn't expect they'd be out again. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she had to do something. Now. Especially since Mom and Dad were going to be keeping more of an eye on her when they were awake. The least she could do was check on Sheila.

Maz was sitting in front of the console when Kelly got down there, poking one of Sheila's keypads. "Maz?" said Kelly.

Maz sat up straight. "Kelly, I was wondering when you'd get back down here…"

Kelly bristled. "When I get down here? Didn't you see what happened? I'm guessing you did, seeing as you ran away! I nearly had to tell the cops about SheZow, and Dad got hurt…"

"Is he okay?"

Kelly swallowed. "He's hurt, but he's okay." Even that wasn't exactly true. Dad had been barely holding himself together when he'd come see her. Mom wasn't much better.

"I think Sheila's rebooting," said Maz, poking the keypad again. There were definitely a few more lights on her console.

Kelly folded her arms. "Don't change the subject."

"What subject?"

"You! We're supposed to be rescuing Guy. And I couldn't do anything because of my parents, but you've been doing goddess knows what…"

Maz stood to his feet, hands held out in front of him. "Look, I know you're mad cause I bailed. And I'm really, really sorry. And I should've called you, but I was busy, and then I just figured you'd be down here soon anyway, and…"

"Busy doing what?"

Maz started pacing, words spilling out like the thought the faster he spoke, the less chance there was of Kelly yelling at him. "I figured we weren't going to get anything out of SheZap. I hung around long enough to get that. And we kind of blew up Sheila trying to make the gate work, so we can't just use her power source again. But then I thought, the gate worked back in the warehouse, so there must've been something powering it there. So I went and had a look around, and I found these big glowing crystal things that were in this big broken device… and I figured that must've been it. So I brought that back with the SHE-C-10 and I hooked it up to the gate. But that took ages because I didn't want the cops to see the plane, and then I couldn't figure out how you were supposed to plug in crystals, but I'm pretty sure they're working now. I just wanted to get Sheila to check it first so I didn't accidentally blow her up again… please don't be mad, I know I could've dialled and tested it."

Kelly just stared at him, jaw hanging open. "Maz, wait. You're saying what you were busy with… you found the original power source and got the gate working again?"

"I think so."

Kelly swallowed hard, feeling tears prick the back of her eyes. She stepped up to Maz, and put her arms around him. "Damn it, Maz."

Maz tensed in her arms. "What?"

"You fixed it."

"I think I did…" Maz clarified. He put his arms around her and hugged her back. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Kelly sniffed, pulling back. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."

Maz shrugged, trying to make it look nonchalant, but his cheeks were a little pink. "Hey, you're worried about Guy. And your parents." He looked back to the gate. "You still want to wait?"

Kelly sighed. "We may as well. It'll just put us further back if we stuff it up again, or hurt Sheila." A few more hours wouldn't hurt her parents. "Maz, thanks. I really thought we were stuck."

Maz just grinned.

* * *

 **A/n:** Bit of a longish chapter, but I hope it still worked. I'm not sure if my updates will be as often as I usually make them from now on. I've got other stuff I'm (supposed to be) doing which I should be devoting more time to. But will definitely try and finish this story, just might take a little longer.

Feeling like I keep picking on Boxter. Sorry Boxter. And Droosha. You guys are so stressed, I'm sorry. D:

Drop me a review if you liked this chapter! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Terry fired his lasers at Gal and she flipped over the top of them. Well, that was a good enough distraction. Guy launched himself at Terry, and caught the man around the shoulders, dragging him across the street and slamming him into a wall.

Terry blinked, momentarily startled, then broke into a crooked grin. "Whoa. Feisty girlfriend you got here, DudePow. You gonna let her fight your battles now?"

"The name's SheZow," Guy growled. He slammed Terry into the wall again and wiped the grin from his face. "And you just shut down my way back home!"

"Little…" Terry growled. "You gonna get emotional now?"

"You're the one who's going to be crying in a minute… Tara."

"It's Terry! I'll show you… I feel a sneeze coming on…"

"Oh you have got to be kidding me."

Terry snorted up a great big wad of snot and blew it into SheZow's face. Guy slammed back into the sidewalk and stuck fast. Sherrific. So this world's washed up loser had snot powers too.

"Hey, leave her alone!" said Gal. She zipped in and punched Terry in the side of the head. They both started grappling.

"Ow. Sissy!"

"Pansy!"

Guy hauled himself out of the snot with a sick sucking noise. "Ew." He shook the remaining snot from his fingers . One good thing about being a superheroine, he could fully express how utterly disgusting Tara… Terry's powers were. "Yuck!" he added for full effect and stuck out his tongue.

Terry and DudePow were throwing punches at each other now. They were kind of just standing there and letting the other hit them, then throwing a punch back, and trying their hardest not to wince as the hits got harder and harder.

Guy put his hands on his hips. "Seriously?"

"I can handle him, SheZow," said Gal. She punched Terry again. "Go check on the gate."

Guy scowled. Did SheZow and Tara look this stupid when they fought each other? He should she-slap them both, just to get them to hurry up with the fight, but the gate was his biggest concern. Guy flew over to it, and peered over its edge. It was definitely shut down so what the hell was he supposed to do? He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat, but this time it didn't quite dislodge. He'd nearly been home, and now… what if Terry blasting the gate had stuffed it up for good? Surely Sheila would redial as soon as she could if it was still working?

Guy blinked a few times, then slammed a fist down on the edge of the gate. "Damn it!" The metal rung, and a jolt of pain shot through his wrist. Guy shuddered and winced. Whatever the gate was made of, even SheZow's strength couldn't dent it.

The wail of sirens cut through the air. Guy groaned. Were the cops in this dimension just that little bit quicker to respond, or was that his imagination? He turned and shouted over his shoulder: "DudePow!"

"I said it's okay; I can take him!" Gal grinned, and hit Terry again. Terry staggered back a few feet, held his shoulder and swore under his breath. "Hah, you big wuss!"

"Will you listen to me, the cops…"

A cruiser slewed around the corner and braked to a halt. The driver's side door flung open, and this world's Officer Hamdon stomped out. "Damn it, JerkPow! How the hell did you get that ring again?" Beatrix's gaze fell on SheZow. "Oh, you're still here. You going to be trashing Megadale with your boyfriend now too?"

"Actually," said Guy, "I'm just trying to get home. That's why I need that gate, so excuse me if I don't feel too bad about pinching it from your impound."

Beatrix scowled and then her shoulders slumped. "I guess I'm not going to be able to stop you taking it, am I?"

"No. And DudePow is making a mess, and he's not even listening to me about stopping fighting so we can get the gate and I can get home…"

Beatrix snorted. "Yeah, I can smell the testosterone from here. So, what, you just going to let him ignore you?"

Guy's eyes narrowed. "Huh? You just want him to stop breaking things… I'm not doing your job for you!"

"Of course I want them to stop tearing up the place!" Beatrix threw her arms wide. "But I can't do anything about it. They'd flatten me. You've got superpowers, don't you? Or is that pink skirt just to make you look pretty?"

"My powers don't work without pink!"

"Well, good for you. I'm going to have to work overtime to get this mess cleaned up, I just know it…" She was watching the fight, scowling a little. Terry picked up DudePow and flung him clean through a window. Beatrix winced, squeezing her eyes shut a little.

Guy watched her for a moment, chewing his lip. What was DudePow doing anyway? He could beat Terry quicker if he wanted to, instead they were basically just playing super-powered punchies. "Hey, DudePow!" he shouted. "Hurry up and beat Terry, the cops are here, and we're going to get in trouble!"

Gal had Terry by the collar. "What do you think I'm doing?"

Terry broke into a grin. "Oh, hey there, Officer Hamdon. Fancy seeing you here."

Beatrix groaned. "This day is just getting better and better."

"You ready to ditch that sorry excuse for a husband and let a real man into your life?"

Gal's eyes narrowed. Then she drew back her arm and punched Terry right in the nose. Hard. She wasn't mucking around.

Terry staggered back, clutching at his face. "Ow!"

"Serves you right," said Gal.

Terry pulled down his hands and blew out a big glob of snot. It slammed DudePow into a nearby bus and she stuck fast to its side. Terry grinned, then stomped over to Beatrix.

Beatrix put her hand to her belt. "I should arrest you…"

"What, handcuffs? That could be fun," Terry grinned.

Beatrix huffed and rolled her eyes. "Good lord, Drew was right. You realise I only invited you over for dinner, you know, with my family and my husband, because I looked up to you as a hero when I was a kid?"

"You sure that's all?"

"I'm not even sure what I saw in you as a hero. There's a reason DudePow is still famous, and you're all washed up, and that's even with all the mess he makes."

Terry scowled, eyes narrowing. He balled his hands into fists at his side and took a step towards Beatrix. "I am not washed up!"

Beatrix drew in a sharp breath and stepped back.

Guy stepped between them. "Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Terry looked SheZow up and down and snorted. "What, you?"

Guy shrugged. "Yeah, I'll do. I mean, there's no one around here with a beer gut, is there?"

"Why you little…"

"Super heavy handed she-slap!" Guy powered up the attack and smashed Terry clear across the street.

Terry sprawled on the ground, then lifted himself up on one elbow. "You hit… like a girl…" he slurred, and then slumped to the ground and passed out.

Guy raised an eyebrow. "Why, thank you."

Gal finally managed to extricate herself from the snot and fell off the side of the bus, landing on her feet. She shook off the snot, her lip twisting up into a disgusted grimace.

"Are you okay?" Guy asked.

"I'm fine. And I had him, what'd you go interfering for?"

"Seriously?!" Guy baulked. "What about your… Officer Hamdon? I just stopped Terry from beating her up."

"I don't think he would've beaten me up," Beatrix scowled, then her gaze softened. "But thanks."

"If you'd just let us finish, he wouldn't even have seen her!"

"You said you wanted us to fight villains together!"

"All right, give it a rest, both of you." Beatrix snapped. She walked over to Terry, and poked his shoulder with her shoe. Then she scowled, and gave him a good hard kick. He was definitely out cold. "If back up gets here in good time, we might actually be able to arrest him."

"Well, good for you," said Gal. "But you're not getting that gate back."

Beatrix glared at her. "You know, I'm not sure what anyone sees in you as a hero either."

Gal gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists, but said nothing.

Beatrix glanced at SheZow. "Just take the damn thing; you know I can't stop you. If you really need it to get home," she shrugged. "Fine. I hope you get home. But at least have the decency to give it back when you finish. And try not to break it, if it doesn't kill you."

* * *

Guy and Gal brought the gate all the way back to DudePow's lair before they spoke to each other. They'd had enough trouble carting it around before, that both knew it wasn't going to be a good idea to argue whilst carrying it.

Guy made sure the gate was settled in place, then flung out his fist. "She-yeah." He turned to Gal and then put his hands on his hips. "Okay, what is your problem?"

Gal flung out her fist. "He-yeah. My problem? What's your problem? You totally messed up DudePow's fight with Terry!"

"You said you wanted my help. You said that if I got stuck here we should fight villains together, as a team. So I helped."

"But not with Terry! He's like, DudePow's arch-nemesis. DudePow's got to go up against him one on one, mano-a-mano…"

"Is that supposed to be some stupid DudePow macho thing? Real guys don't do that. And Terry nearly hurt your Mom because you were toying with him."

"Hey, I would never let anyone hurt my Mom, or the rest of my family. It's just Terry, he's not going to hurt her."

"How do you know?"

"Well, he didn't beat up Dad when he tried to throw a punch at him across the dinner table for hitting on Mom. So I seriously doubt he'd do anything to Mom. He's just a sleaze-bag. But he doesn't pick fights with people without powers."

Guy rolled his eyes. "Ugh. You know, if you don't want my help, I may as well just go home… but I can't unless we get that gate working."

"So lets get it working, and I can get rid of you!"

The two glared at each other across the lair, chests heaving, hands balled at their sides.

"If I could interject," said Dudley. "I believe I could set up a dialling system to activate the gate. I would just need the right address."

Guy glared at Gal for a moment more, then sighed and turned to Dudley. "Sheila would have it. She did manage to dial the gate. But she didn't tell me what it was."

"What happened when she dialled it; why didn't you go through?" asked Dudley.

"Terry blasted it," said Gal, folding her arms. "And it shut down. Guy's computer didn't dial back, so we don't know what happened."

"If there was an error," said Dudley, "I assume it might take some time for Sheila to sort it out. It can take me up to twenty-four hours to calculate the solution to a problem… although… er… sometimes I run in issues with my storage because I have a tendency to keep…"

Gal held up a hand. "Dudley, no. No one wants to hear about your photos."

"Yes, well," said Dudley tersely, "if Sheila didn't have this… issue. She might be able to sort out a problem quicker."

"Yeah… Sheila keeps love letters or something," Guy winced.

"Really? Is she a bit of a romantic then?"

"Dudley!" Gal growled.

"Right, sorry. My point was that if she's fixing a problem with the gate, it could take up to twenty-fours for her to work it out. So, we shouldn't worry if the gate doesn't activate again right away. It could simply be a matter of waiting."

"Can you do anything?" Gal asked.

"I can work on the dialling device. There's not much point trying to guess the address. Judging by the number of symbols on the gate, the combinations are countless. It could take me up to four years to randomly guess the right one. And that's not taking into account my… storage issues."

Guy's jaw dropped. "Four years?" he said hoarsely. He rubbed at his arm and looked at the floor.

"I think we can count on Sheila," said Dudley. "Don't worry. Not for twenty-four hours anyway. Get some sleep. And we'll see how it looks in the morning."

Guy nodded. He looked back at Gal.

Gal swallowed and looked away. "Look, thanks for looking out for my Mom anyway," she muttered.

Guy chewed his lip. What if something like that happened to his father? SheZow wasn't there to help. What if some villain, whether it was SheZap, or someone else, started getting out of hand in SheZow's absence? How would the cops, his father, deal with them? There was no one in his world to protect him."I just… you know I do like fighting with you. But if I can get home, maybe it might be a good idea."

"Yeah," Gal said, smiling faintly. "I mean, we do kind of clash. Just… if the gate does activate, make sure you say goodbye before you go."

"I will."

* * *

Guy woke to the whoosh of the gate activating. He sat straight up in bed, or rather, his beanbags. He slipped off the dislodged cushion of beans once again and tumbled to the floor. "Ow!" He rubbed at his head.

Propped against the wall, the gate now held the glimmering sea of blue across its centre. Guy hauled himself to his feet. "Um, Dudley?"

Dudley's computer screen flickered to life. "Yes, I'm here. It seems, oh, well, hello there." Dudley minimised himself to half of his screen.

On the other side of the screen, Sheila appeared. "Why hello yourself. I hope you don't mind, but I figured this was the easiest way to communicate."

"Why I don't mind at all."

Guy cleared his throat loudly. "Sheila?"

"Hey there, sweetheart. Are you all right?"

Guy blinked a few times. "I'm fine, Sheila." That four years stuff had him really worried, it'd actually taken him awhile to fall asleep. But now everything was going to be okay. "What about you? When the gate shut down, I… I thought…"

"I had a power surge. But, I've fixed the issue."

"Would you like me to get Gal and Kelli down here?" Dudley asked. "You did say you wanted to say goodbye."

"The connection is stable," said Sheila. "The wormhole should hold for at least another twenty minutes. You'll be able to say goodbye… and… your sister is harassing me to speak with you…" Sheila disappeared from the screen.

Kelly's face appeared next to Dudley's, leaning right into Sheila's camera. "Guy!"

"Yeah, I'm here, what's wrong?"

Kelly's jaw dropped. "What's wrong? You've been stuck in another dimension for like three days. Mom and Dad are worried sick!"

Guy swallowed. "Don't you think if I could've come home, I would've?"

Kelly sighed, and her shoulders slumped. "Aw, Guy. I know. But they've been really upset. And Dad got hurt…"

Guy felt his gut drop. "Wait, what happened to Dad?"

"It's not bad. It was just SheZap."

"Just SheZap!? What'd he do to him?"

"He's okay, but he did get hurt. He's scared too…"

"What, no, Dad doesn't get scared…"

"Yeah, well that's what he said! And I don't want SheZap to get out of hand and do it to him again. So get your butt back here now!"

Guy swallowed and looked at his feet, feeling that lump work up in his throat again. He'd been right to be worried. SheZow hadn't been there to protect Megadale, or to protect Dad. "I'm sorry, all right?"

"Guy…" Kelly sighed. "It's okay. Just come home. Mom and Dad really need you. So does Megadale and… me."

"Yeah, okay, sis. I'm just going to say goodbye to DudePow, then I'm going straight through that gate, I promise."

Kelly smiled at him. "I am glad you're okay too."

"Yeah, I'll give you a great big hug when I get through."

Kelly snorted. "You can try."

"Guy…" Gal and Kelli came down into the lair, both in their pyjamas, Kelli rubbing at his eyes. Gal looked up at the gate. "It's working…"

Guy smiled faintly. "Yeah. And I need to go home. Stuff's happening. I need to protect my family; they haven't been doing so well without SheZow."

Gal smiled back. "Hey, I understand. With what you did for Mom, I'm sure you'll do fine. And hey," she reached out and grasped his arm. "Sorry for getting mad at you before."

"It's fine."

"Hey…" Kelli spotted Kelly on the screen and waved at her.

Kelly grinned back.

"You'd better get through this gate, Guy," said Sheila, popping up over half of Kelly's image, much to Kelli's chagrin. "I may only be able to keep it open for another few minutes. And Kelly isn't very good at inputting the address."

"Hey!"

"Bye," Guy waved at Kelli and Gal. Then he held out his fist. "You go, girl." He may as well make a dramatic exit. He flew into the air, fist held out, and punched through the watery surface of the gate.

The world disappeared for a moment, and then Guy found himself shooting out of the gate at double the velocity he'd gone in. He shot into the lair and slid across the floor, crashing into the wall behind him. "Ow… okay. Not going to do that so fast again." Guy looked up, rubbing at his head. Kelli and Gal stared back at him. "Wait, what?" Guy shot to his feet and looked around him every which way. He was back in DudePow's lair. "What happened?"

"You flew in the gate, then you shot straight back out again," said Gal. She was staring at him, jaw hanging open.

"What? But why?"

"Maybe it only operates one-way," said Dudley. "Theoretically, it could be possible that matter can only travel one way through a wormhole."

"But Sheila and Kelly can hear us," said Kelli. "We're communicating two ways."

"That's an energy signal, not matter," said Dudley.

Kelly put a hand to her forehead. "SheZap said the gate only worked one way. This is what he meant."

"You mean… I can't…" Guy felt his stomach drop, that lump rise in his throat again.

"Damn it," Kelly snapped, and pounding a fist on Sheila's console. She looked away, blinking rapidly, hanging her head.

"Maybe I just did it wrong," said Guy, his voice wavering. He bunched up his fists. "If I fly through it harder…"

"That won't work," said Dudley, "what this means is we'll have to dial your world from our side. Then you'll be able to travel through."

"So dial it already!"

"I don't have a dialling device. Or an address."

"I'll send you ours Dudley, but it won't be the same to reach our dimension. Might help you make a start though," said Sheila.

No. Guy's head was spinning. Dad had been hurt. He was supposed to protect him. But he'd let SheZap toss SheZow through the gate. If something happened to him like what had happened to Beatrix, no one would be there to stop it. And that was his fault. And he'd been over here, having the time of his life with DudePow! What the hell was wrong with him? "I have to fix this…"

"Sock it to me, broseph," said Gal, powering up DudePow. She was Guy's alternate, she knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Get out of my way!" Guy growled.

"Flying at it again won't work. You'll just hurt yourself, or put a hole in DudePow's wall. That won't help anybody."

Guy flew forward, and DudePow caught him. Grabbed him by his wrists and pushed back. They ground to a halt in midair, halfway to the gate.

"Get out of my way, Gal!" said Guy, and his voice caught in his throat. "My Dad… I have to…"

Gal looked into his eyes. "It won't work. I'm sorry, we'll figure out something else…"

Behind her, the gate shut down with a whoosh.

He couldn't go back. Guy's shoulders slumped, and he slipped out of the air. Gal grabbed him under the arms, and steadied his descent to the ground. Guy sunk to his knees. His shoulders started shaking, and hot tears squeezed from his eyes. He hung his head. "I just… I want to go home."

Gal put her arms around him and rubbed his back. "I know, Guy. I'm sorry."

* * *

"You feeling any better?" Gal smiled at him tentatively across the table.

"A little," Guy sniffed. "I mean, your world's got an ice-cream parlour that opens for breakfast. What's not to love about that?" He forced a smile then hung his head and sighed. "Thanks for taking me for ice-cream." He poked a big ball of chocolate around his bowl. His throat hurt from crying, and at least the ice-cream helped with that. He didn't feel like bursting into tears anymore, but there was still a knot that had settled deep down in his guts. It hurt, and Guy didn't think it was going to just go away.

They'd left Kelli and Dudley in DudePow's lair, trying to figure out both the address for Guy's dimension, and how to get a dialling device working. There was no way Guy could've hung around there, waiting. He'd still been shaking when Gal took him by the arm and told him she was going to buy him some ice-cream.

"We'll figure it out, Guy."

"What if we don't? You heard how hard Dudley said it was."

"Kelli's smart. You know that. Even if Dudley gets all confused with however much he's messed up his hard drives, Kelli will work it out."

"Gal, don't. I know you're just trying to make me feel better. I'm going to be stuck here, at least for awhile."

"I'm not. He can do it. Don't tell him I said that, but he can. You'll be home soon."

Guy pushed his half finished ice-cream away, and leaned his head heavily against one hand. "I'm worried about Dad. SheZap hurt him. I've always just thought of him like he's been getting in SheZow's way, but now that she's not there, there's no one to stop someone hurting him. And if I'm stuck here because I was an idiot and let SheZap toss me here, and something really bad happens to Dad…" He squeezed his eyes shut tight. No. He didn't want to fall apart again, not out here in public.

Gal squeezed his arm. "He won't get hurt. It's like, you know, my Mom. She just makes a lot of noise, and rants about everything like DudePow's out to make her life hell. But she knows what she's doing. She can look out for herself; so can your Dad. You'll be back, and he'll be blaming SheZow for everything again."

"If he knew I was SheZow, he wouldn't be worried. Maybe I should've told him. Maybe I should get Kelly to tell him where I am." And then, maybe, he'd be able to talk to Dad, and Mom, through the gate. There would be that at least.

"You know how he'd react, just like my Mom," Gal poked her own chocolate ice-cream, and scowled. "He'd resent you for it."

She was right. Dad would be mad. But, if it meant he could talk to his father, maybe it'd be worth it. He would have to explain things. But if Dad'd been worried sick about where his son had been for the past three days, he might just listen. Guy swallowed. "You know Gal, you shouldn't be so mean to your Mom. You'd miss her if anything happened to her."

Gal glared up at him, and her eyes narrowed. Then her shoulders slumped and she looked away. "I know."

* * *

 **A/n:** No, I'm not dead. I finally got some time to work on this a bit more. Alternate Terry is sleazy… but then so's Tara… XD And I don't like making things easy for Guy to get home, what will they do? Leave me a review! :)


	8. Chapter 8

Kelly sat in the she-lair with her head in her hands. It'd been ten minutes since the gate had shut down. But she couldn't work up the energy to move.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Sheila eventually asked.

Kelly sniffed and lifted her head. She couldn't sit like that forever, though in the current circumstance it almost seemed like her only option. "He's stuck there, isn't he Sheila?"

"For the moment. Dudley should be able to work it out. I'm going to help him with some calculations. That might speed things up. At least we can communicate."

"But it's still going to take awhile, isn't it? Is there anything I can do?" Kelly asked. "Anything!"

"It's a lot of probability calculations, and astronomy. Not something the human mind is equipped to do as fast as a computer. I'm not sure you can help."

"Sheila, I have to do something! I can't just sit here, I…" Kelly held out her hands. They were shaking. She choked over the lump in her throat, and wiped at the corner of her eyes. She wasn't going to start crying again, that definitely wouldn't help. Her parents were already worried sick. How would they feel now? And she could do nothing to let them know it was all okay. And even if she could, it wasn't okay. Guy was stuck in another dimension.

"Why don't you go see Maz?" said Sheila. "Let him know what's going on?"

"How's that supposed to help?"

"It might help you. You're not going to be much use to anyone like this. You need a break."

"Sheila, I'm not…" Kelly's shoulders slumped and she hung her head. "I just… I thought Maz had fixed it, that Guy was going to be coming home. What am I going to tell Mom and Dad?"

"Go and see Maz, sweetheart," said Sheila. "Dudley and I will work this out."

* * *

It had been hard enough for Droosha to find something to do to take her mind off things. She was vacuuming, even though she had done the whole house the night before, unable to sleep. And now Boxter was home, moping. She shouldn't call it that. This wasn't him being moody; he was worried about Guy. So was she.

Boxter sat on the sofa, with a newspaper spread out on the coffee table in front of him. Droosha wasn't sure if he was actually reading it. He'd been staring at the same spread for the last ten minutes, and she'd been cleaning around him. Usually she'd snap at him to move. Usually he'd know what was good for him and move before she had to ask. But, under the circumstances, she couldn't blame him. And she didn't really mind him being there, close to her.

"That's it," Droosha said, clicking off the vacuum cleaner and flinging it into a corner of their living room a little too vigourously. "We need to do something."

Boxter looked up from the newspaper. "What do you think I've been trying to do for the past three days? I can't…" He swallowed hard and rubbed a hand across his face.

Damn it. It wasn't Boxter's fault. Droosha sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

It took a moment for Boxter to speak. "Detective Johansson isn't going to let me. She said… she said she needed to look into a few things. And it was probably best that I didn't know what those things were, unless she actually turned up something. She said she didn't want to upset me by forcing me to think of possibilities that had… happened to Guy… if they turned out to be a dead end."

"You got hurt too."

"I'm not hurt." Boxter waved his hand. He'd already ditched the sling, like it was annoying him. "This is nothing." His lip twitched slightly as he flexed his hand.

"So let's do something ourselves."

"Like what? You may as well just vacuum; it'd be about as useful as anything I've been doing."

Droosha stood to her feet. "Boxter, no. You've actually been out there. Look, even if we just go out… and… and look… that's got to have a chance of turning up something. I mean, Detective Johansson left you with a cruiser. Maybe that's what she wanted you to do."

Boxter frowned.

"You know that is the sort of thing she'd do."

Boxter groaned. "I never know with that woman. But I'm a cop. You're not."

"I'm also a mother. And…"

"And you might get hurt! I can't… after Guy…"

"He's out there somewhere, sweetheart. He has to be. And if you come with me, I'll be safe."

Boxter shook his head and dropped his gaze. "You won't be safe with me. I couldn't even protect myself."

"So we'll both look out for each other."

"Droosha…"

"I'll go by myself if I have to; I'll take my own car. I can't just sit here. But I want you to do this with me. Boxter, please."

Boxter swallowed and looked at the floor. For a moment, Droosha thought he'd had it. He'd been through too much in the last couple of days, and he was too tired, she wasn't going to get him to pull out of the slump. But, though it seemed to take him a moment, he squared his shoulders and stood to his feet. "All right. But we need to be careful. If we run into anything dangerous, we get out of there, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

Droosha brushed his shoulder, moving her hand down to the brace on his wrist. It still made her heart catch a little. "Okay. We'll be careful. I don't want you to get hurt anymore either."

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?" Droosha asked.

Boxter grimaced a little as he wrapped the steering to take them around a corner. He was mostly driving one handed, though he still needed to grapple with the wheel with both hands when they were turning. "It's an auto; it's fine. Besides, Johansson might've wanted me to have the cruiser so I could continue looking, but I'm fairly certain she doesn't want you driving it."

Droosha frowned. "Why not?"

"Because you're not a cop." He was driving a bit slower than normal, but that was because of his hand. Maybe it was better they weren't ripping around the place.

"So, where do you think we should look? What should we do?"

Boxter's eyes narrowed. "What should we do? This was your idea."

"You're the cop," Droosha shot back at him.

"You said you wanted to come out here. I thought you had something in mind!" Boxter growled.

"Yeah, looking for Guy!"

"I've already done that! Did you think I was just, I don't know, driving around? He's my son too. I've been out here, looking, and what have you been doing?"

"Being worried, Boxter. And I've had enough of it. So excuse me if I want to try and do what you couldn't the right way!"

Boxter flinched and closed his eyes briefly.

Droosha winced. "Babe, I'm sorry."

"I know. Me too." Boxter groaned, and his shoulders slumped. "What are we doing? We can't… he might not even be out here. He might…" He swallowed hard, and blinked back the tears that filled his eyes.

Droosha reached out and grasped his sleeve, even as she felt her own throat tighten. "It's okay. Just pull up."

Boxter pulled over to the side of the road. He took a moment to gather himself. "It's been three days. We've got to… we've got to prepare ourselves for the possibility that we might not find him. Or we might find him, and…"

"Boxter, no," said Droosha, hearing her voice crack. "Not yet. I'm not prepared to give in yet."

Boxter sagged, staring listlessly at the steering wheel. "He isn't anywhere. I tried; I tried really hard."

Droosha reached across and cupped Boxter's cheek in one hand, bringing his face around to her. She pressed her lips against his for the briefest of moments, then pulled back a little and rested her forehead against his. He wouldn't meet her gaze. "Baby, it's okay. Just hang in there a little longer, please? I need you right now. We'll find him."

A crash from outside the vehicle brought them both jerking upright in their seats. Down the street, a toppled truck was being unceremoniously uprighted by an enthusiastic SheZap. She was hauling the rear end of the trailer up, but dragging the cab along the asphalt in the effort, like a kid trying to pick up an uncooperative cat.

Boxter groaned. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Kelly said SheZap knew something about SheZow being missing too, that that might have something to do with Guy…"

"Yeah, but why would SheZow be hanging out with Guy? Kelly's just grasping at straws."

Droosha stared out the windshield, her heart thudding in her chest, then her eyes narrowed. "Maybe. But it's the only lead we've got."

"Droosha!"

Droosha pushed open her door and strode down the road without looking back. Her fists were balled at her sides, but they shook. If she slowed, if she turned around, if she gave Boxter the chance to talk her out of this, she knew she'd falter. It might not be a smart idea; SheZap had already hurt Boxter. But her son's life was on the line, and she'd do whatever it took to find out what had happened to him. It didn't matter if she got hurt in the process. But, hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. "SheZap!" she called out.

SheZap didn't hear her. She was too busy settling the rocking truck body, now fully upright, if a little bit scuffed and dented down one side. "There. You're all nice and safe now, Mr Truck Driver."

"You bloody well knocked the damned thing over in the first place you little bitch!" shouted the shaking, but still rilled up driver, from the relative safety of his cab.

SheZap waved a hand dismissively. "Pfft. There's no need to point fingers. You're safe now and that's all that counts."

"SheZap!" Droosha called again, this time raising her voice enough to stop the tremble it held from overpowering it. "I want to talk to you."

SheZap sat on the edge of the trailer and crossed her legs. "Oh hey, you looking for a little rescue action? I'm available all week for any superhero tasks…" She squinted a little and then grinned. "Oh. You're here to ask about your son, aren't you Mrs Hamdon?"

A shiver ran down Droosha's spine. How did SheZap know who she was? "Do you know where he is?"

Boxter skidded up beside her and put a hand on her back. "Droosha, what are you doing?"

"You should've stayed in the car!"

"Seriously?"

"She's not going to hurt me; I'm a woman."

Boxter frowned at her and squinted. It was that look he got when he thought she'd said something ridiculous, but was trying to figure out whether he was going to call her on it or not.

"Okay, but what else are we supposed to do?" Droosha hissed, lowering her voice. "I don't care if she tries to hurt me, we have to find out what she knows."

Boxter swallowed. "Well, then I'm going to have to take that risk too, aren't I? You did say you wanted us to do this together."

Droosha smiled faintly. "Thanks, sweetheart."

"Um, am I invisible or something?" said SheZap. "Or did you just decide you don't want your son anymore?"

Droosha balled her hands into fists and rounded on SheZap. Boxter tugged back on her shoulder. "Just don't get her riled up, all right?" he said, voice low. "That's when she gets nasty."

Droosha swallowed and held her shaking arms steady at her sides. "SheZap, we need to know where our son is. If you know anything, please tell me."

"You're husband already tried harassing me." SheZap shrugged. "I don't think I want to tell you."

"And my daughter told me you did something to SheZow…"

"I'm SheZow's clone, don't you get that? I needed to stop that little rat from hogging all the glory, so I sent her to another dimension. Now I'm free to be Megadale's favourite superheroine!"

"Yeah," said Boxter. His voice was shaking a little, but it sounded more like he was trying to keep some level of anger in check. "And what we want to know is if Guy got caught up with any of that."

SheZap laughed. "Oh, your son's caught up in it all right. But you can hardly blame me for that."

"SheZap, if you've got a beef with SheZow, what on earth does that have to do with our son?" Droosha growled.

SheZap watched them for a moment, then a faint smile tugged at her lips. "You don't know. Do you? Well, that's interesting."

"Droosha, this is useless…" Boxter growled. "She's just stringing you along."

"I'm not stringing anyone along," said SheZap.

"Well," said Droosha, putting her hands on her hips. "Prove it. Tell us what you know about what happened to Guy."

SheZap eye's narrowed. She jumped down from the side of the trailer and landed nimbly on her feet.

"Droosha…" Boxter stepped in front of her a little, pushing her back.

But Droosha stepped right back up beside him. "She knows something…"

"You're right, I do know something. But you're not going to like it."

"Try us," Droosha pressed.

SheZap eyed them, the corner of her lip twitching. "You get that I'm SheZow's clone, right? That I'm everything she is, just a little bit more… interesting."

"Yes, and you threw her into another dimension," Boxter growled. "We get it. But I don't give a damn about SheZow. I want to know about my son!"

SheZap glared at him. "Do you really want to get all aggressive with me again, Officer Hamdon? Cause I can do more than snap your wrist."

Droosha felt Boxter stiffen beside her and, this time, she put herself in front of him. She was still fairly certain SheZap wasn't going to physically harm her. It wasn't as big a risk as SheZap hurting Boxter anyway. Still, she knew she was dangerous. "SheZap, we just want to know where Guy is. If you tell us, I'll make sure my husband stops bugging you."

SheZap grinned wickedly. "All right. Follow me, and I'll show you. Make sure you bring your husband." She zipped past them, down the nearest alley.

"I didn't bug her when she hurt me," said Boxter, rubbing at his strapped up wrist.

"I know, sweetheart. We just need to get her to tell us." Droosha turned and headed for the alleyway.

"Droosha." Boxter grasped at her sleeve.

"Don't try and stop me."

"I was going to say let me go first."

"Okay." Droosha let him, but she grabbed his arm and made sure she was right there when they got to the alleyway. She shifted up beside him and they looked around. "Where is she?"

Boxter grasped her shoulder. "Don't go in any deeper…"

"Aw, I'm offended you don't trust me." SheZap materialised from the shadows at the centre of the alley.

"You did try to break his arm," Droosha growled. There was no sign of Guy here. It was just an unremarkable alleyway.

"Stop playing games with us," Boxter said. "If you know where he is, just show us."

"All right, all right," SheZap grinned. "I'm afraid I may have misled you a bit. I can't show you where he is. But I can explain…" She stood in the centre of the alley, legs apart, and flung out her fist.

Droosha tensed. Boxter gripped onto her shoulder.

"She-yeah," said SheZap. Her green costume fell away. And left standing there in the middle of the alley…

"Guy?" said Droosha, her voice catching. She took a step forward, without thinking.

Boxter's hand on her shoulder drew her up short. "I don't think that's Guy."

The boy that looked like Guy smiled at them. "You're right, Officer Hamdon. I'm not. I'm his clone."

Droosha drew in a sharp breath. SheZap had turned into this boy. Guy's clone. But if SheZap was SheZow's clone too… "Oh goddess."

Boxter stiffened beside her. "What? What it is? What has she… he done with Guy?!"

Droosha's shoulders slumped and tears filled her eyes. "Boxter, this boy is secretly SheZap. So that means Guy is SheZow."

Boxter stared at her, and his bottom lip started to tremble.

"Well, thanks for showing us, SheZap. We've been worried sick."

"Why are you thanking him?" Boxter said, voice catching.

Droosha put a hand on his back. "Honey, don't you get it? Yes, SheZap sent SheZow to another dimension, but that means she must be safe. Guy is safe. SheZow can look after herself. We just need to figure out how to get her back."

Boxter pulled away from her touch. "'Her'? Are you for serious?"

"I'm afraid your celebration is premature. SheZow's stuck in the alternate dimension," said SheZap. He folded his arms and smiled at them smugly. An expression that reminded Droosha of Guy, but still wasn't quite right. "I don't plan on letting her come back; she'll just try and tell me I can't be a hero again."

Droosha smiled at him, even though she knew he was the one responsible for sending Guy away. She was too relieved to know Guy was okay to get angry, and SheZap had still been the one to tell them. "I know you think you're messing with us, SheZap. But I know where my son is now. Maybe you're more of a hero than you think."

SheZap's arms slumped at his sides and he stared at her, jaw hanging open. "I… well… you stop screwing with me!" He stepped back, and disappeared into the shadows.

Droosha drew in a breath. That had gone way better than she'd thought it would. She turned to Boxter. "We need to figure out how to get Guy back. Kelly might know… what's wrong?"

Boxter was staring at the spot SheZap had disappeared, his jaw working. "Kelly might know, huh?" he finally said.

"She did know about SheZow missing."

"Yeah, of course she did!" Boxter exploded. "Don't you get it, Droosha? She's known where Guy has been the whole time. She didn't tell us. I thought something had happened, that he might… he might be dead. I worried all that time, and…" He looked away, his chest heaving. "She lied to my face."

Droosha grasped his arm. "I know. Believe me, I was worried too. But we can work that out with the kids later. The important thing is to find Guy."

"I don't even know if I want to find him right now," Boxter growled, still not looking at her.

"Boxter!"

"I just found out my son is SheZow!"

"So?"

"He's been lying to me…"

"He's been in another dimension."

"Not just about that. About being SheZow! How long has he been SheZow? How long do you think he's been doing this to us?"

"I don't know. But that's not the most important thing right now, is it? And, quite frankly, I think the fact our son is a superhero is wonderful. So should you."

"Well, its different for you. You don't have to put up with her… him… interfering with your work, and leaving you messes to clean up, and trashing your work equipment. And now I find out that's Guy? He's been lying to my face, and I find out when some knock off super villain drag queen decides to change in front of me. I'm his father, he should've told me himself. So excuse me if I'm a little bit upset."

"Boxter, Guy is safe. Don't you get that?"

Boxter pulled away from her, rubbing at his damaged wrist. "I can't believe he let me worry about him like this. I couldn't even sleep, and he's been in another dimension, skylarking in a skirt. Doesn't he trust me… I…"

"Boxter…"

"Leave me alone." Boxter turned away with a huff, stomping out of the alleyway and back to the car before Droosha could stop him.

Boxter should've been happier, but Droosha couldn't quite work up to being annoyed at him. He'd had a rough few days and seeing SheZap change into their son had been a shock. And she knew how Boxter felt about SheZow; he had to feel betrayed finding out that, all this time, that had been Guy. He loved the kids, but sometimes he took some of the silly things they did a little too personally. They were just kids. Still, she had to give Boxter the benefit of the doubt, give him a little time to work things out for himself.

At least she knew where Guy was now. Droosha pressed her fingers into the corner of her eyes, drew in a breath, and then went after her husband.

* * *

Kelly sat beside Maz on a park bench, swinging her legs off its edge. She threw a bit of bread at the ducks puttering around on the surface of the pond in front of them. After she'd called Maz, and told him Guy was stuck, he'd met her down at the local park. He'd turned up with a pretty daggy looking bag of bread crusts. Kelly hadn't fed the ducks in years. It was something you either did when you were five, or eighty. But somehow it seemed a good thing to do to take her mind off things, especially sitting beside Maz. But still…

"This isn't helping anything," Kelly groaned, flicking her last bit of bread at the duck with one leg, the one that looked a little fatter than all the others.

"I know, but at least you've calmed down a bit."

"How do you figure that?"

Maz shrugged. "You've stopped squishing up the bread into hard little balls and pegging it at the ducks' heads."

Kelly groaned, and dropped her head into her hands. "Maz, what are we going to do? Guy's stuck. What if we can't get him back?"

Maz swallowed hard, and turned his attention to the last bit of bread he was carefully pulling to bits in order to make it last. "Guy knows what he's doing. I'm sure he's having the time of his life over there. And Sheila will figure out how to bring him back."

"What about Mom and Dad? What if Guy gets hurt?"

"DudePow's there with him. I mean, at least we know it can't get any worse."

Kelly's phone rang and she grabbed it out. "It's Dad… I can't let him worry…" With everything going on, she felt if she let it ring more than twice, Dad would start panicking. And the last thing she wanted to do was upset him more than he was already. She put the phone to her ear. "Dad?"

"Kelly…" Boxter said, but he seemed to run out of words, his voice faltering and trailing off.

"Yeah Dad, I'm here. Are you okay?"

Boxter cleared his throat, and his voice became firmer, though it still sounded strained. "Why have you been lying to me?"

Kelly's mouth hung open as she searched for words. "I… haven't…" she finally choked.

"About SheZow!" Boxter barked. "About how she's Guy, and you've known where he was the entire time, and you let me think he was… how could you do that to me?"

Kelly stomach dropped. Dad knew. How had he found out? "Dad… I meant to… tell you."

"No, you didn't!" Boxter shouted, cutting right over the top of her.

Kelly flinched. Dad rarely yelled right at her, or Guy. His voice cut right to her core, and Kelly felt tears sting her eyes. She wanted to explain, but it was so complicated. And it was true, she had lied to him, knowing what it'd put both him and Mom through with worry.

Maz was watching her; he reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Hey," he said, voice low. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Boxter, what the hell are you doing? Give me that." The phone crackled as it was passed, most likely snatched, and then Mom's voice became clearer. "Kelly, sweetheart, are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Kelly over the lump in her throat. At least she could answer with one word, because right then had she tried to say something more she was sure she'd start crying.

"All right. We know about Guy being SheZow. And it's okay, we're not mad at you…"

Boxter started to say something, muffled from being away from the speaker.

"We're not mad at you," said Droosha, a little more loudly. "But right now we need to know where Guy is, whether he's safe. You don't have to hide anything from us now, okay?"

Kelly swallowed, regaining some control over her voice. "He is safe, Mom. I promise."

Droosha let out a weary sigh, and when she spoke again her voice cracked a little. "Okay. That's great sweetheart. We just… we just need to know what's happening, you understand that, right? We'll come pick you up, we'll talk."

"Yeah, I… I'll tell you Mom. I'm sorry I lied to you."

"It's okay," Droosha reassured her again, and Kelly felt a little of the sharp tension stabbing her insides dissipate. At least Mom wasn't mad, she would listen, and Kelly would have a chance to explain things to her. If she could get them to understand why SheZow had to be kept secret, they would understand why she and Guy hadn't told them. "Where are you?"

Kelly told her, and then hung up. Maz was staring at her. "What? What happened? Are your parents okay?"

He'd only heard part of the conversation. Kelly stared at her phone. "Mom and Dad know Guy's SheZow."

* * *

 **A/n:** Yes, I did it again: making Boxter and Droosha find out about Guy. But it's fun. Now poor Kelly has to deal with it. And I need to finish plotting this story D:

Leave me a review! :)


	9. Chapter 9

Guy sat up on his beanbags, dragging himself out of sleep. The sound of the gate opening should've raised his spirits. But that didn't necessarily mean he was going home. It was far more likely that Sheila was simply sending a message.

"Dudley?" he asked, as he rubbed at his eyes.

"There's a message coming through for you. Sheila says its important." Dudley minimised himself and Kelly popped up to replace him.

"Guy!" she shouted, leaning into the screen.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm awake." Guy dragged himself to his feet, and slouched over to Dudley's console. He didn't want to get his hopes up. But surely if his sister was this desperate to speak with him, it must be good news.

"Guy, listen, there's been a bit of… I don't know how to say this…" Kelly rubbed at the back of her head.

"Can I go home yet?"

"Not quite. Listen, um, SheZap, he hasn't hurt anyone, but he got a bit… he thought he'd have a bit of fun. And…"

"Alright. Let me talk to him. He'll figure it out," said a gruff voice.

Guy shivered as his blood ran cold. "Dad?"

Boxter moved into view onscreen, his broad shoulders blocking Kelly out of the frame. "Yeah, its me." His gaze softened. "Are you alright, Guy?"

What was Dad going in the she lair? "Yeah. I'm just stuck here. I'm not hurt."

Boxter drew in a breath. "Good. Then maybe you can tell me if its true."

Guy knew what he meant. But he asked anyway: "What, Dad?"

Boxter's gaze hardened. "That you've been SheZow all this time."

Guy gulped. How had his father found out? "I… listen, Dad, I can explain."

"Boxter, give me some space." Droosha shouldered Boxter out so she was foremost in the screen, though he didn't move from beside her. "Guy, sweetheart, are you okay?"

"Yeah, Mom. How did you find out I'm SheZow?"

Droosha huffed. "SheZap. She…"

"He," Boxter grumbled.

"He decided it'd be fun to tell us. Oh, but Guy, it's okay, you don't need to worry. We still love you, and we can talk about this as soon as you're home. Neither of us is mad at you."

"Now hang on a minute," said Boxter.

"Boxter…"

"No, I'm not going to sit back here and let you speak for me."

"Guy is stuck in an alternate dimension. He doesn't need either of us angry at him. He needs us to be supportive until we can figure out how to get him back."

"You don't think I want him home safe too? He's only over there because he's SheZow!"

"You can't blame him for that."

"You heard SheZap. It's true."

Guy squared his shoulders. Alright. Enough. He wasn't going to let Dad push him around. "Mom," he said, a growl keeping into his voice. "It's okay. I can defend myself."

Boxter snorted. "Well, at least you know you've got something to be defensive about."

"Alright, Dad. Do you want me to say it? I'm SheZow, alright? I have been for almost a year!" It felt good. Even though his voice shook a little, finally saying those words lifted a weight from Guy's shoulders. "If you don't like it, then that's just tough!"

Boxter loomed big on Dudley's screen. Guy stood his ground. He had to look almost as big on from Sheila's view.

"You realise the trouble you've caused me, son? I am constantly cleaning up SheZow's messes. She makes my job hell. How do you think I feel about that?"

"And how do you think I feel about you constantly ranting about SheZow, at the dinner table, every single night! You hate her Dad. And all that time it was me."

"Exactly. All that time it was you, listening to all those rants, that should've given you plenty of time to at least adjust SheZow's behaviour."

"There's nothing wrong with SheZow's behaviour! You're just mad because the cops are useless. She just keeps showing you up."

"Guy, that is enough! As soon as we get you back here we're not going to have anymore of this SheZow rubbish."

Guy felt his cheeks growing warm. "You can't tell SheZow what to do. You can't tell me not to be SheZow." He flung out his fist. "She-yeah." SheZow's outfit formed around him.

Boxter drew in a sharp breath, and looked down.

"This is me, Dad. You're just going to have to accept that."

Boxter stared at Shiela's console for a moment more, then he looked up to meet Guy's gaze. "I don't have to accept anything."

Droosha grasped Boxter's shoulder. "Alright, Boxter, stop it. You too Guy." She turned back to Boxter. "You are not the only one who gets a say in this…"

"I'm his father."

"And I'm his mother. Sure, Guy may not have gone about this the right way, but we're going to discuss this as a family when he gets back."

"There is nothing to discuss. He did this behind my back."

Droosha folded her arms. "Your back, huh? Alright mister, this is not about you. This is about getting our son back from wherever he is."

"I want to get him back!" Boxter burst out, flinging his arms wide. "Look, can't we… maybe we can talk to SheZap. He just wants to be a hero, right?" He turned back to the screen. "He wants SheZow stuck there, Guy, not you. Just take off the costume, hang it up, and maybe we can convince him to let you come home."

Guy's jaw dropped. "Dad, are you serious? I'm not giving SheZap what he wants. He's a bad guy."

"Well we have to do something. You've been in there for days, haven't you? And has SheZow's powers done anything to get you out?"

"Neither have you!"

"I have been patrolling the streets for hours!" Boxter's voice rose so loud, Dudley's speakers crackled. "Looking for my son, afraid I might find him hurt, or worse. And all this time you were over there, playing SheZow. Had I known I wouldn't haver worried, but you chose to lie to me instead."

"Because I knew you'd react like this!"

"If you knew I'd react like this you never should've kept being SheZow."

"I don't have a choice." Guy held up his fist, showing SheZow's ring to the screen. "This is the ring that makes me SheZow. I can't take it off. It's stuck on my hand."

Boxter glared at the upraised fist. "You've tried?"

Guy shook his head. "You know what? No, not really. Because I like being SheZow. But I know for a fact it doesn't come off."

"There has to be some way."

"Even if there was, I wouldn't take it off!"

Boxter stared at the screen for a long moment, then dropped his gaze. "I'm disappointed in you, son."

Guy stomach sunk. "Dad…"

"You are not even willing to hear me out on this. But it doesn't matter. I will find a way to get you out. That's the most important thing right now." He moved away from the screen.

Guy leaned forward against the console. "Dad? Wait."

Droosha moved back into view. "Guy, are you okay?"

Guy swallowed. "Yeah."

"Your Dad's gone. But it's not your fault, okay? He's…" She shook her head. "He's reacting worse than I thought he would. He does feel like SheZow makes things hard on him, but that's no excuse for him to speak to you like that. I'll talk to him when he calms down, okay?"

Guy forced a smile. "Thanks, Mom. So, you don't mind I'm SheZow?"

Droosha smiled back at him. "I really wish you'd told us. But only because, you know, now you're stuck over there. I was really worried."

Guy looked away. "I'm sorry."

"But I am proud of you."

"Really?"

"Of course. SheZow's amazing. That means you are too."

Guy blinked a few times. "So, do you have any idea how I'm going to get back?"

Kelly moved up beside Droosha. "Sheila's still working with Dudley to figure out an address. She's going to dial in and exchange information every few hours. And we can talk then. But I don't know how long it'll be."'

"Don't worry, Guy. You'll be home soon, I promise," said Droosha.

Guy wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him, or herself.

"Shiela says we need to disconnect now," said Kelly.

"And then you're going to bed," said Droosha, putting a hand on Kelly's back. "Both of you. Just because you're in another dimension, doesn't mean you can stay up past bedtime."

His mother enforcing bedtime would usually annoy him, but Guy found himself smiling. "Sure thing, Mom."

"Night honey. I love you."

The connection clicked off, at the same moment the gate shut down with a whoosh. The disconnect was jarring. Guy hung his head, fighting the tears that stung his eyes.

He could talk to them now, at least. He didn't have to hide he was SheZow, stuck in an alternate dimension. Well, he could talk to Mom. He wasn't sure Dad would want to talk to him again.

His Dad was disappointed in him. The thought brought a lump to Guy's throat. He already knew he hated SheZow. But this was different. He knew Guy was Shezow, and he still hated her.

"Guy," said Dudley. "Are you alright, son?"

Guy laughed softly at the computers use of the word son. He sounded more caring than his father had. "I guess so. I just thought Dad might change his mind about SheZow, once he knew she was me, you know."

"You just want your father to be proud of you. I understand."

Guy huffed. "I'm not sure you do. Sorry, I just…" He swallowed hard, and his gaze hardened. "I don't need Dad to be proud of me. He's just mad at SheZow because she's way better at protecting Megadale than he is."

Dudley sighed. "Yes, that must be it. You should listen to your mother and go to sleep. I'll try not to keep you awake."

Guy went back to his beanbags, and lay down, looking up at the ceiling lit by the faint blue glow of Dudley's working lights. He hadn't thought he could feel more alone being over here. But, after speaking to his father, he did. Even if he got back home, his father would still be far away. Guy rolled over, pressing his face against his pillow, and shut his eyes tight.

* * *

Boxter didn't know where he was going. But he wasn't driving aimlessly. Not simply to give himself something to do, or to get away from his family whilst he worked out his feelings. Not that getting away from them was a bad thing either.

He was looking for SheZap.

He shouldn't have been hard to find. With all SheZap's antics, trying to be a superhero in SheZow's absence, sooner or later, he'd show up. And SheZap could keep SheZow's job for all Boxter cared. He certainly didn't create that much more mess than SheZow… than Guy had.

Boxter blinked heavily, shaking away the thought. He'd deal with Guy being SheZow once his son was safely home. But if this worked, by that time, being SheZow would've been dealt with. He'd only have to deal with the fact his son had been lying to him for months.

The cruiser's radio crackled to life. SheZap had been reported causing a nuisance down by Megadale's pier. Boxter flicked on the vehicle's sirens, ignoring the twinge in his guts telling him they were only supposed to be used when he was on duty, and headed down to the pier.

He found SheZap on the beach nearby. SheZap whirled around, then dropped the crushed car body he'd been touting onto the sand. "Relax officer, nothing to see here. I'm just having a little fun."

Boxter frowned. "Why are you throwing cars into the ocean?"

SheZap grinned. "Skipping stones got boring. So, Officer Hamdon, are you back to harass me some more?"

"No, I want to talk to you about my son."

"I really don't want to have to hurt you again. I mean, I am a hero now. It's bad for my reputation."

"I have no intention of fighting you."

SheZap flew on top of the car, then crossed his legs, exaggerating the feminine pose. "Well, that's good. So, what is it you want exactly?"

Boxter gritted his teeth. He knew who SheZap was. There was no point in the villain pretending to be all girly. "What I want, is to clarify what you want."

"Oh?"

"SheZow. You want to be rid of her, right?"

"Yup, that's why I sent her to the alternate dimension. I thought we'd established this?"

"Yeah. But you wanted to be rid of SheZow. Not my son."

"Well, your son is a bit annoying. I'm sure you know this. But, no, I really have no reason to send him off." SheZap shrugged. "Unfortunately, they're kind of part of the same package."

Boxter swallowed. "Are they? Guy did say he was stuck being SheZow. But he obviously enjoys it so for all I know he could be lying. You're his clone so you must know if there's some way to stop him being SheZow, or seperate them, or mean someone else could be her, or…" he held his hands out in exasperation. "Anything!"

SheZap jumped down from the car and sauntered up to him. Boxter resisted the urge to back off.

"What are you proposing?"

"If you knew some way we could make Guy not SheZow anymore, would you tell me how to get him back to our dimension? Would you let him come home?"

SheZap broke into a grin. "Officer Hamdon, are you offering to strip your son of his powers for little old me?"

"If that's what it takes to bring him home. I don't like SheZow anymore than you do. And it'd be a hell of a lot safer if my son wasn't fighting people like you. I just don't want him to get hurt. If this is what it takes…" Boxter looked down, and kicked at the sand. He wasn't hurting Guy. He was saving him. This could be the only way, and it'd be for Guy's own good. "SheZap, if you could find me some way to be rid of SheZow, I'll do whatever I can to help you. As long as it means I can bring my son safely home."

SheZap grinned, then reached out and grabbed Boxter's injured hand in a vice like handshake.

Boxter stifled a yelp and shuddered.

"It's a deal, Officer Hamdon."

* * *

 **A/n:** I know its been ages since I've updated this. I still haven't decided what I'm doing with it, but I thought I'd post an update and see where it goes. And yes, I'm going in a bit of direction I don't think I've quite gone before. Boxter's not going to be so understanding about his son being SheZow. But how far will he go?

If you read, please leave me a review. They help motivate me. ;)


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